A Change In Destiny
by DonningTheCowlOfTheDarkKnight
Summary: I was tired of just surviving. At ten I should have parents, an older or younger sibling to annoy, and be top dog at the academy... but those things were a pipe dream. But one day I received a package. It's contents small, but it could potentially change my life. My Name Is Uzumaki Naruto...and this is my journey. Less Oblivious Naruto. Powerhouse Naruto. NaruHina.
1. Chapter 1

For many years I have tried to master the craft of writing. It is my passion. I love it like an Otaku loves anime. Like Lois loves Clark. Like Gohan loves Videl. But for me it's more than a passion for fanfiction. One day I hope my writing will get me a spot on the New York Times Best Seller's list. I am a man in my thirties who loves to interact with those who are fans of reading, writing, and the very concept of imagining something grand. So take a ride with me on this adventure of Naruto's journey with one small change. What will happen one person decided that Naruto was meant to know his past... a few years early. A much stronger Naruto, but not kamiLike...any time soon. But most definitely not someone to be trifled with. Fair warning... I did use one of the over used tropes, that Naruto is attacked in the village as a young boy, but I kind of felt if could work in this situation. So please sit back, pull up a chair and sit for a while. Please feel free to Fave, Follow, and Review to show some love. :)

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OH CRAP. ALMOST FORGOT THIS PART... _**Disclaimer**_ : I don't own Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, or anything Naruto related. I make no money off of this work of fiction, though it would totally be cool if I did.

AN: Went back and fixed the few grammar issues I saw upon a quick re-read this chapter.

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Ladies and Gentleman... A Change In Destiny

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Hatake Kakashi, the silver haired heart throb to his fan girls, and fear mongering titan to his enemies just wanted a nice peaceful day with his stress relieving novel by his favorite author, Jiraiya no Sannin. He planned to do just that after a quick drop by to the council meeting as requested by the Hokage.

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An Hour Later

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'' _ **I don't give a rat's ass what you civilian bitches want. I will not take the Uchiha unless Uzumaki is placed on my team. 'I' am the jonin instructor and will fail his ass back to the first year of the academy. Fuck with me if you want to. I have watched him for the last few weeks and I am not impressed. You all pander to his every whim and have turned him into a pampered little shit. I hold no reservations with not training someone who will not be a benefit to Konoha's forces. And I see some of you getting red in the face. Well, too fucking bad. I have too much self respect than to bend to the whim of a CIVILIAN council who shouldn't even be in this conversation. These are ninja matters. Oh, and there is another here in the room with the Sharingan. Shimura Danzo.**_ ''

Danzo isn't surprised often, but even he couldn't hide the look of shock that spread across his features. ''The mangekyo sharingan at that. So the old war hawk would be equally as qualified to teach the little shit. So please give me one more reason I can't have Uzumaki Naruto? And if I am somehow forced to be his sensei, I will make his life a living hell. You don't like it, I will surrender my Hitai-ate and move on to greener pastures. A friend to Konoha, but never again a shinobi under it's banner. And before one of you threatens to rip out my sharingan, remember it is just that. MINE. I was gifted it by Uchiha Obito on his deathbed and it was confirmed by my teammate Nohara Rin at the time, and my sensei, the Yondaime hokage might I remind you accepted that fact and documented it in the Hokage STEM document system which is tamper proof. Kakashi released a large amount of killing intent upon the combined room of civilians and shinobi alike. No one had seen Kakashi this dark and quite frankly scary in many years. Not since he lost his sensei. They forgot for a brief moment that Kakashi was feared across all five great nations as the A, bordering on S-rank shinobi: Sharingan no Kakashi among other monikers such as Raikiri no Kakashi, as only one person ever survived the attack to tell about it.

Upon Kakashi's revelation of Danzo's sharingan, four members of 'ANBU' appeared before Danzo in a protective formation.

The lone Nara in the room, and Jonin Commander of Konoha's forces sighed and said, "Troublesome. Okay, here's what's going to happen. Everyone is going to stand down, or there will be unrest here today, and that is something none of us really needs. I vote to put Uzumaki with Hatake. We can't afford to lose a shinobi of Hatake's skill over some biggoted civilians acting foolish."

No one moved as even they knew not to mess with a pissed off Kakashi. Kakashi gave a small nod to Nara Shikaku in thanks for his support, then turned to his leader without dropping his guard in the slightest as his hand was still laying gently upon his tanto and his other upon a kunai. He bowed a bit and stated, "I apologize for my behavior hokage-sama. It was rude to interrupt your meeting's progression as such, but I believe it's far past time to remind the civilian," he emphasized with a snarl, "council who actually runs this village. You. A shinobi. They have no business having so much power, if any in that arena. They are the main ones trying to keep me away from my requested student and trying to force him to remain in the academy as well despite defeating and detaining a traitor not even two days ago. If I wasn't there myself to see the end results, I bet they would lick the Uchiha's balls by saying it was him when he was home asleep in his family's two story house."

After a few second's contemplation Hiruzen stated authoritatively, "Hatake Kakashi, Your request to be removed from your current post and reinstated as a jonin, **APPROVED.** Your request to take on **UZUMAKI NARUTO APPROVED!** Should I parish before Uzumaki Naruto proves his boast of taking my hat, you, Jiraiya, and Tsunade are my chosen successors. If for some reason Danzo is not executed for disobeying my orders and manages to make a run for my hat, you are the first line of defense against it. Oh, and take the Uchiha. If his arrogance gets in the way, break him. Shatter him and build him back up. We can't have an obsessed avenger in our ranks.

"But Hokage-sama," some of the civilians started.

" **Silence** ," The sandaime Hiruzen roared again. "I am the Hokage of this village. And I'd better not find out any of you went bitching to the daimyo. He is our money, but I am the backbone to our strength. Who do you really want to piss off? Now to you old friend... Shimura Danzo, you will be detained and questioned about said sharingan and these ne' agents who were to be disbanded years ago. Do not resist, or be eliminated."

Hiruzen didn't like the fact that he had to do that to his long time friend. His two advisers and former teammates were about to speak on Danzo's behalf before being interrupted by two of the Hokage's ANBU appearing before him in a protective stance.

"Clear the room," Hiruzen's voice soft, but fierce. It was cleared with the exception of his four ANBU and Danzo and his two ne' ANBU loyal only to him. "Has it really come to this. Have you the desire to be Hokage so bad that you would blatantly disobey my decrees and lurk in the shadows when such services are not needed...currently.

Danzo sighed as he slowly stood in preparation of what could possibly be a Kage level battle of two of the leaf's oldest, and fiercest warriors of a time past. "If you'd shown this level of shrewdness for the last ten years or so I would not have felt the need to do so. I do everything I do for the sake of this village."

Hirizen sighed as he relayed, "I know. But you outright defied me. You know I cannot let this pass. I would be seen as weak by the rest of my forces and the village. I don't want to kill you, but unless you can come up with something better, I will have no choice but to eliminate you once and for all. Especially after that stunt a few years ago with Naruto. Yes I knew about the ne' agent. I saw the ANBU agent Inu take his head."

After a moment, Danzo decided to try his hand at diplomacy. "What if I could, after a few years bring your pet Uchiha back home as a hero... without making the clan as a whole look bad.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed dangerously as he stated, "I'm listening."

* * *

Nearly Three Years Past-

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'It took me a while to figure things out. I ran through the village as you've probably heard a time or ten before... but I have had enough. The old man Hokage listens to me, and says he's sorry I am chased, mocked, ignored and whatever else those bastard villagers deem the 'demon' deserves for the day. Well... I'm sick of it. I am going to make some changes around here. I have to be careful though. I found one small thing. A trinket if you will. A possible line to my past. And today... I will turn that into my golden ticket. My name... is Uzumaki Naruto, and I am the one who will change this village. I will make them see past whatever darkness hovers over me. I will become the Godaime Hokage... Or die trying.'

A young blonde boy of ten years old received a small box left in his apartment earlier that day. His first instinct was to toss it out of the window. Only the Hokage brought him gifts, but it wasn't his birthday or Christmas. Against his better judgment, he pulled out a small pocket knife an old ramen shop chef gave him for protection in secret after seeing how Naruto was treated first hand one day. He cherished it, and put it to good use as he carefully cut around the outside of the box to see the inside contents rather than the top. To his surprise, and relief, the box was not rigged to explode. The nature of living in a shinobi village.

Naruto pulled out the first item. A small mahogany box, and inside of it a few things... starting with a letter.

' _Dear Sochi, I don't know what could have happened to keep your mother and I away from you. We were so excited to see you born, and decided to make this before your birth. I am your Otou-san Minato. Namikaze-Minato...'_

Naruto dropped the letter, in shock. He now knew he had the wrong box. Every school child who entered the shinobi academy knew the name Namikaze Minato. He was the Yondaime. The legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha. The Forth in the Legacy of Hokage. Naruto knew he would never be that lucky. He went back to the letter as to hopefully find a clue to who the letter actually belonged to. He would do whatever he could to get the package to the right person.

' _Your kaa-san, my beautiful wife, Namikaze, nee Uzumaki Kushina.'_

Uzumaki... Uzumaki..Kushina. Uzumaki...Naruto.

Naruto felt his eyes start to tear up. He might not be alone. He might have family still alive, but his hopes were dashed when he decided to take a look at the list of fallen heroes every shinobi and academy student kept in honor of those who gave their lives in protection to the village. Beside her name was a gold star. The highest honor Konoha could give. Naruto couldn't decide whether to smile or cry, so he did a little of both. He took a moment to compose himself and reached over and grabbed the letter and the box and moved to his living room where he continued reading on his small love seat.

" _She was a fiery type. She used to yell about how she would be the hokage. When we found out we were having you, I was already hokage, and Kushina's priorities changed a little bit as she said she would wait for the time when you take the hat instead. Big dreams sochi. I had one of my most loyal Anbu Inu hold this box until he thought you were old enough to understand. I know Hiruzen, and he would have likely taken back over as Hokage if I died for some reason. I asked him to keep our identities hidden for your safety. At least until you were twelve or chunin, but if Inu gave this to you first, then he believes you are ready. Don't rat out Inu. The sandaime would have his head for not waiting until he decided you were ready. Haha. The keys in this box are to our house. I used seals and placed chakra into the seals daily to build up a massive security system. So only you and my teacher, your godfather Jiraiya can get in. But even he can't get in past the main gate without your blood. So just use a drop of your blood and use the hand seals Inu, taka, Hebi, ryu. I know they are slightly unorthodox, but once you do those seals and add a little chakra, the residence will recognize you as it's new master. Your kaa-san and I have worked on a curriculum for you to help you with chakra control which is extremely important. Then you can start studying jutsu in the order presented. I also left a chakra scale. If you are anything like your kaa-chan was as a kid, you have an unnaturally large amount of chakra. If so, doing simple things like the clone technique will be nearly impossible for you, but we have outlined some things to help with this. Your kaa-chan, Jiraiya and I have also composed a specialized book specifically for you to study Fuinjutsu from. It will seem boring at first. Mind numbing in some ways, but please study it hard. It will give you an edge and protect you. Your Kaa- chan's clan is sadly no more... but at one time they were feared across the five great Elemental Nations. You have fallen into greatness my son, but please do not let this get to your head. Many have fallen when given power. I would have preferred you earned it, but if you have this, then Kushina and I aren't there to guide you, love you, and even discipline you when you need it. So let the lessons we leave for you guide you toward Konoha's Will of Fire. The Fire fierce enough to burn all of our enemies to ash, but passionate enough to protect our village and loved ones. A lesson I actually learned from a student of mine you should also take to heart as well: 'Those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their friends, family, or comrades in arms are far worse. I am sure I have another letter or two around our compound somewhere, but for now, just take in what I have said and know that your kaa-chan and I love you very much Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto._

 _Your tou-san, Namikaze Minato. :)_

 _PS. Treat Inu as you would a well respected elder brother. He is charged with protecting you and your mother from the vilest, darkest of our village's underworld. He is, or was from your standpoint, my precious student Hatake Kakashi. Oh. On a side note, in case you were wondering: You were named for the definition Maelstrom, not the other definition of your name, fishcake, haha. You were named after the hero of Jiraiya-sensei's first book, 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja.' They are rare, and hard to find, unlike his other works which are nothing but smut and should be avoided at all cost.'_

Naruto fell asleep with tears in his eyes, only to wake up with a start, and finished looking through the box. He read the instructions and placed the cloth encrusted tags on his person and added as little chakra as he could. His weight nearly doubled. Fortunately he read the emergency verbal counter command before the weights crushed him. It released forty percent of the weight which was enough for Naruto to stand and move around again. Naruto chose not to take the weights off as they would supposedly make him stronger and faster. The cloth fell off, but the seals seemed to be permanent. They vanished on Naruto's skin, but he could still sense them. Knowing this was a gift from his parents, he felt a little stronger already.

Naruto did what he was instructed to do, and found his way to his parents old home. It was hidden away and took him nearly an hour to sneak through the village and the prying eyes of ANBU. Or so he thought. One 'ANBU' member took note of the ten year old's covert actions and went to intervene on his master's behalf. The 'demon' should be nowhere near the venerable yondaime's hallowed estate. But as this emotionless drone of a man's blade could finish descending upon Naruto, another blade countered it, thus catching Naruto's attention. He knew of this anbu as he had saved him a few times in the past from a few rowdy and over zealous villagers. His mask that of the dog... 'Inu,' Naruto thought in awe as he made short work of the assailant, his head on the ground, while the body still stood stock still.

Naruto then wretched as he realized he had just seen someone killed in front of his very eyes. He quickly shook it off and accepted the hand offered to him as he replied respectfully, yet silently in case others were within earshot. "Domou, Arigato gosaimashite Kakashi nii-sama."

Naruto's words caught Inu slightly off guard, but he gave a slight nod in acknowledgment of the thanks, looked around and used all of his training to see if there were others lurking about. Fortunately there were none. Inu performed a few hand seals and put up a small ANBU level privacy barrier. Inu sighed as he wasn't really supposed to be talking to Naruto, but he said, "Use the laundry room in the basement of your apartment building. There are three tunnels there that I spent a few years building with a little help to keep you safe. Use the middle one. It will lead you to the basement of your parents... your family home. It's one of the reasons I kept getting to you so fast, instead of through Konoha's traffic. Go in through washer number three. I had a sample of your blood from an altercation a few years back and used it the same way you are about to attempt to open this gate, but I don't know the seals for this gate... don't tell me. Not yet anyway. Wait until I've earned that right should I ever." He continued before Naruto could obviously object. He could see it in his eyes. "I need to report to the hokage what I have done. I can only pray that he forgives me for breaking his law and informing you of your heritage."

Naruto then grinned, despite the grim kill around him. "You didn't reveal anything. My tou-chan did. I just happened to find a letter from him after I found my family's estate. The only reason I got in was because a bit of my blood got on the gate after a small trip, and it opened for me. Maybe a glitch in the security system," Naruto lied perfectly, much to Inu's shock.

"You would lie to the Hokage? I know how close you are."

"We are, and I love my village for some reason or another. So I figure, you tried to help me to be safe here. If I am safe, I can secretly train and get stronger. And he need not even know about this needlessly, right?"

Inu was starting to like this kid's style. Inu turned around and gave Naruto a few second's privacy as he performed his hand seals and drew the required drop of blood. Inu was concerned, as Naruto was not supposed to know of this place. Without turning around, Inu asked, "How do you plan on keeping this place a secret?"

"I am training to be a shinobi for a reason. Stealth, silence and ingenuity. I might not be great at the latter two yet, but I am getting better at stealth. I keep you boys running for a good hour or two searching after a good prank. That's part of my stealth training since the only instructor at the academy that seems to give a damn about me is Umino Iruka. Now there's a man I wouldn't mind being like. I could see someone like him being Hokage if he got stronger... but not before me." Naruto added that last part as an afterthought. Inu didn't laugh often, even in his youth, but he did chuckle at little at that, as he knew of the young chunin and his former penchant for being a Konoha prankster.

Naruto realized Inu was deep in thought, but cleared his throat and got the man's attention. "I was told to give you respect and as you have been watching over me even now, where I didn't even know you were there... you've earned it. I don't really know how I can pay you back, but you have a friend and a little brother in me. If you need me, call on me. I will not forget your kindness... ever nii-sama." He said before he slowly closed the gate behind him and made his way up the yard to the house and performed the same technique.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Hokage tower

* * *

Inu arrived with a standard ANBU capture seal, but his stance was more rigid than normal. Sarutobi Hiruzen was a man in his late sixties. He did not become known as the Kami no Shinobi without being observant. His voice tired, yet his eyes shrewd ordered, "Inu, report."

Inu laid out the seal before the aged hokage and revealed a masked head. The mask was the old Ne' or Root ANBU which was ordered disbanded nearly twenty years prior. While Hiruzen figured a small division of the old guard still existed under his old friend and rival Shimura Danzo, he knew that if Inu brought this forward, something damning was coming... and he would be prepared, one way or another.

"Sir," Inu treaded carefully. "Uzumaki Naruto was training out near the old Na...Uzumaki compound when this piece of garbage attacked him. I was forced to reveal myself to Naruto... to a point. He told me he'd seen me a few times when I'd saved him. I had always thought he was out of sight, but he is better at stealth than we'd given him credit for. But he didn't ask much. He respectfully thanked me, then moved on, stating, there must be a reason I'm not permitted to talk to him, and he would not be the one to get his guardian in trouble."

Being the Hokage, he knew Kakashi was lying through his teeth. He'd seen Kakashi take the boy a package with his 'Infinite Vision Jutsu' granted to him via the summoning clan Saru. But Kakashi was no fool and has a lot of powerful friends upon the shinobi council. So he would just wait and see just what Kakashi had done, for he was a very patient man. Otherwise he wouldn't have made it to such a ripe old age. So instead of ripping 'Inu' a new one, he dismissed him for the time being. He looked up and another ANBU appeared before him wearing the identical armor as the ANBU captain who just left.

At the dismissal of the Hokage, Inu vanished in a flurry of leaves which miraculously disappeared with him. Hiruzen decided against checking in on Naruto just yet. Let the days ahead be the deciding factor as to his potential fate.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Naruto's family home, he had found two books on the book shelf almost immediately upon opening his father's study. A book on chakra control, and a book to help those with an abundant amount of chakra best utilize it.

Naruto, against the advice of his tou-san could not help but test one of the jutsu. A way to create solid clones. But he didn't dare try it until he gauged his chakra on the strange contraption his tou-san informed him of. It showed where his mother's was at her zenith as marked by a red pen and even noted where the specific jutsu he wanted to learn could be done without something called chakra exhaustion. Naruto had a little more than half of what she did, and knew it would only grow in time. He then started studying. He hated studying with a passion, but after four hours, he managed to complete the jutsu. He fell asleep for the next two hours, having drained a good amount of his chakra learning the technique. Before taking a quick nap, he checked his levels again. He was down to twenty five percent. He now knew a baseline for what not to get near.

After a few hours, Naruto looked back over the cloning technique he learned, and realized something he missed. Memories returned to the creator. Never had he had more inspiration to prank than he did at that moment in time, but opted to hold that back until some foolish villager really pushed his, or her luck. Naruto then looked around and gawked as he realized the house barely had any dust in it. He feared looking in the refrigerator. He then created a dozen clones, despite attempting to only create two.

"Hey! We're you. We don't want to do this crap any more than you do." One clone cried out much to Naruto's surprise.

Naruto then scrunched up his nose, but his head held high and went forward bravely and his clone brigade followed closely behind their noble leader. Naruto opened the fridge to see a bottle of something in a black liquid sealed in a bottle. The refrigerator was otherwise spotless as well. He couldn't figure out how, but that was a mystery for another day. No massive odor erupted from the door as the group expected. Naruto held his nose and opened the container and poured the liquid down the toilet and flushed. Thankfully it flushed successfully. Naruto thanked Kami his parents had a still viable canister of air freshener in the bathroom on the back of the toilet.

Naruto felt his stomach grumble, and then those of his clones did the same. Naruto was about to slam his clones back to oblivion, but was stopped by one of them. "Dude, you've got anger issues. We can dispel ourselves, or you can use the Half ram to mentally do it. Remember?"

"OH! Sorry guys. Take it easy. Thanks for your help. Maybe we could get some ramen together next time I summon you guys... if it works like that."

"Ichiraku's," the group said in unison, much to Naruto's joy. They really were made of him after all.

Naruto dispelled the group of his compatriots, and grabbed a backpack he found in a closet. It was brand new and had the red swirl on it. Naruto liked it. He placed some of the less important looking books into the backpack and left via the basement via Inu's instructions. He found a secret hatch below the carpet at the corner of the room. He eventually made it home, but realized he didn't have any food stocked. He took a look at the clock on his dresser and realized if he busted his ass, he just might make it to grab a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku Ramen.

He took the bag with him as he didn't quite trust anyone to not break in 'again' while he wasn't home. He flew down the stairs and past the snooty landlord. Naruto pushed the limits of his muscles, having forgotten that he was wearing seals which added extra resistance.

He made his way all the way to Ichiraku and slid under the curtain right as the owner Teuchi was about to close shop.

"Sorry Naruto, but we're closing shop." the old man said, without malice.

"Please old man. I got distracted training, and studying," he added the second part with obvious distaste in his mouth. "I didn't have time to go shopping today."

Teuchi thought about making Naruto go without, to help him learn responsibility, but when Naruto mentioned studying, he couldn't help but smile a little in pride. "You're lucky, I should make you go without. But you studying is a rarity. I can't even charge you for your food tonight. AYAME! A three bowl Naruto special setup!"

A tired looking teen with large beautiful eyes and brown hair stepped out of the back in a scarf on her head. "Ooh! My little Naruto-kun is here to see me before I go for the night!" she said as she blew a small kiss at the ten year old. She knew he had a small little crush on her, but it was more so a brother sister relationship, and they both knew that.

"Nee-chan!" Naruto whined as she poured him three bowls of ramen. Two for there and one to take with him.

After a nice meal and good company for a while, Naruto started to make his way home. But of course, somebody wanted a piece of 'it,' or so he'd heard. Naruto watched as a large group of fifteen civilians, and a few young nin surround him. He wasn't in the mood to run away. He stopped sighed, and picked up a thin metal pole as he set down his food.

"I'm not going to run tonight. I am not going to hide. I am only going to say this once. Get the hell out of my way... or I am going to beat the shit out of you. Civilian, shinobi. I don't give a damn. Fuck with me if you want to, and I am going ape shit tonight. You feel me?"

"Look. The little demon grew a pair," one civilian sneered.

" **I'm no demon, but keep talking, I'll become one just for you.** " Naruto replied equally venomous.

Two shinobi ran forward and slammed Naruto back against the wall and pulled out two kunai.

Naruto didn't panic like he expected to. He simply said, "Nice shot, but now it's my turn."

Naruto thrust his fist at the two who attacked him's throats, missed, as he expected, and ran up to the shinobi and ducked under a kick and grabbed the pole, turned around and swung it like a golf club up into the first ninja's nether regions.

" _ **Ooo**_ ," most of the ANBU above groaned. They were going to interfere before Inu arrived and ordered them to stand down. He was interested to see how Naruto would handle this.

"This is your last warning. **Back up!** " Naruto all but wailed. No one listened. Naruto placed his hands in the half ram sign and silently said, " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.** " Those few words in conjunction with that hand sign, and chakra... twenty five exact physical copies of the orange wearing ten year old appeared.

The ANBU nearly fell off the the roof above him. Naruto's clones had managed to materialize the poles with them as well. The Naruto's looked at the poles and grinned darkly. "Charge!"

* * *

To Be ConTinNued. Don't forget, reviews mean love. LoL. See you all next time.

* * *

Batman Out.


	2. Mitarashi Anko's Training Nightmare P1

Batman: Only two reviews. Guess i'll have to try a little harder.

SMSasuke: Nah, don't beat yourself up over it. We've got 8 faves and 18 follows on the first chapter alone. That's awesome dude!

BANG BANG BANG.

SMSasuke: I wonder who's banging so loud. Don't they realize it's after ten at night.

The door was broken down and an orange clad boy in a black bandanna stepped forward and stated, "You two are pathetic. I have seen poodles with more fanfiction swag than you both have. Now move out of the way, and let a master show you how it's done!"

Batman: No! Don't let him near the Keyboard!

SMSasuke: Why? It's his story?

Batman: But don't you remember who his cannon mentor was?!

The world froze for but a moment as SMSasuke threw Naruto against the wall and drew a sword.

SMSasuke: Smut shall not rule this fiction!

Naruto: Then you'd better get your asses in gear and get my review count up... or else I'm taking over. Bwahahahahaha!

* * *

It was time for the teams to be announced.

* * *

Naruto looked to his favorite academy instructor, but realized something was missing. His usual caring smile reserved for his students. Something big must have happened after their encounter with Mizuki recently. Naruto took note that someone he once tried to kill was also outside at the fence waiting on him with a sad smile on her face. Naruto had enough as he hated to see his precious people hurting.

"Hey sensei?" Naruto inquired calmly.

"Yes Naruto?" Iruka replied, a little more attentive.

"What's wrong? I see her outside with the same look as you do."

"I'll tell you soon Naruto. After you are put on your team tomorrow."

Naruto let it go. He could tell that it was really bothering him.

* * *

Naruto's First Big Brawl Three Years Past

* * *

A purple haired blur appeared beside the gathered ANBU on the roof of a local deli only to see a plethora of the village prankster Uzumaki Naruto in his bright orange track suit pants, white tee and a black bandanna with a red swirl on the front tied around his head. The bandanna was new to most, but still showed enough of him to be recognized. He was brandishing a metal pole... well all of them were, the new arrival noted. She took stock of the expressive body language of the ANBU. That alone told her a lot as that was beaten out of them during training. After only five seconds of scanning and analyzing the situation, Mitarashi Anko wanted answers. "Why is no one helping the gaki, and why in the seven blue layers of Tartarus is he doing with enough chakra already to use Kage Bunshin... fuck that. Now that I think about it... why the fuck does a civilian child know a jonin level kinjutsu?!" Her worlds were silent, but the intensity was not wasted. The only one not completely terrified of the angry Kunoichi was Inu... but even he knew she was fierce as a volcano if pushed too far. "Banzai!" a young, loud voice screamed as he raced forward with his legion of clones. Within minutes, the group found out what the boy meant when he said he'd become a demon. He smashed heads in, broke knees, arms, and noses. But he did not kill one of them. No matter how much he wanted to.

Once all was said and done, those that remained conscious, barely at most, "I will be a light in our fair village. I didn't kill you because I am not like you. I am not whatever it is you think I am. I will become the hokage and bring a change to the village. I will make it stronger than it's ever been, but not through bullying and hatred. I've been bullied! I've been persecuted for reasons I don't understand. But I am still here! I am still standing! And I will never, ever give up!" He proclaimed loudly.

Anko jumped down off the roof and started clapping with an impressed look on her face. Naruto, not knowing her turned to face her with his remaining clones taking up a defensive position between him and her. Again, she was impressed with the instinctual defensive posture. "Slow your roll little orange boy. I am not here to harm you. I am a special jonin, and unlike these idiots, I could have easily incapacitated you if I wanted to." Naruto didn't like that, but believed her for some reason. He and his clones relaxed their posture slightly as she said, "Who are you?" "Me? I'm the one who's going to be taking you on a trip to see the hokage as no what, nine year old should know, much less be able to pull off a jonin level technique." she said casually as if talking about the weather.

Naruto stopped cold, his clones vanished in a puff of smoke simultaneously as Naruto nervously asked, "Do we have to tell the old man about this? I wanted to surprise him in a few years when I graduated the academy." he said, sweat pouring down his face all of a sudden. Anko could tell he was actually more afraid of the Hokage finding out early than him getting in trouble. She sighed but said, "Sorry gaki, but I am one of the hokage's nin, and as such, I have to report what I saw tonight, or I could get in a lot of trouble." Naruto looked to the left, then to the right right as he said, "Well shit," and then took off in the opposite direction of where Anko was in her beige trench coat which was flowing openly in the wind of the young boy who just vanished.

Naruto got three blocks away before Umino Iruka saw him. He recognized those zig zag patterns that Naruto was attempting, as he tried the same thing in his youth. Umino Iruka was not the fastest, or most powerful of his generation, but his mind was sharp. He calculated the best route to catch someone, and did the opposite as that is likely wht Naruto would have done. His hunch paid off as he landed next to Naruto and gave a gentle chop to the boy's neck upon seeing Mitarashi Anko after him. He would stand by the boy's side if an inquiry came up for some reason, but his loyalty was first and foremost to the village.

"Thanks Umino. Appreciate the assist. I am taking him to T and I to have Inoichi take a look inside the gaki's head. Seems like the quickest way to find out what's going on here." Umino was quick to answer, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. This boy is close to the sandaime. It would be 'much' better to take Naruto to him." Anko was a little disappointed. She really wanted to see someone's brain fried like in those old commercials she used to see when eggs were fried. "Suit yourself. You carry him then."

* * *

Ten minutes later, after an extensive apology for waking the sandaime up and forcing him back to the office at ten at night. "So you all are telling me that Uzumaki Naruto not only beat up a group of civilians, two ninja, but he also performed a classified top secret Konoha kinjutsu?" the sandaime asked, voice tired.

"The demon should be put under my care," A newly arrived Shimura Danzo stated the moment he opened the door. Killer Intent was fired at him via the sandaime and Inu. Enough that his hidden ne' agents had a hard time staying concealed, as they were conditioned to race to their master's aid, especially with that much danger present, but he instructed them to fight that instinct, especially today... especially where Uzumaki Naruto was concerned.

Even Danzo wasn't foolish enough to go against the sandaime where Naruto was involved.. for now. "GET OUT!" The sandaime thundered. "Be reasonable Hiru.." "SHURIKEN, KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" the sandaime roared as he tossed a single shuriken which multiplied into over two hundred. The group moved as soon as they saw the shuriken appear. Danzo didn't think his old friend would actually do it, but he attacked him without remorse. Danzo pulled out his sword and sliced down all but three shuriken which embedded themselves in the wall beside him. Hiruzen stood. Danzo simply placed his sword back in his sheath and calmly stated, "I see you are busy Hiru...Hokage-sama. Perhaps another time." Danzo, cool as ice slid out of the door, turned and walked away.

"Now to the matter at hand: Naruto," Hiruzen called out, verbally nudging the boy awake. Naruto didn't know what to do when he opened his eyes and realize he was in the hokage's office. He kinda figured he was in trouble, but decided to go with what he was best at and that was playing the role of the fool.

"Hey old man, what are you doing in my apartment?" Naruto then looked around as If just realizing he wasn't in his apartment. "Oh. Okay, what did I do and how much trouble am I in this time? "

"I'm glad to see you want to get down to business Naruto. I was informed that you had another run-in with the villagers in and few ninja this evening. It's well and good that you defended yourself. I'm glad that you felt you were finally ready to do so. But I do have a problem with you knowing a jounin level classified ninja technique, and you're not even out of the academy yet. So we could do this in a very unpleasant way and bring in a Yamanaka. You are aware of their family's jutsu sans Parents Day at the Academy a few weeks ago correct?"

'Shit!' Naruto cursed internally as he worked on reasoning out good excuse as to why he knew the shadow clone technique. "Okay, here's the story. One day when I got home a few weeks ago, there was a note beside it that said it was a chakra measuring device. It would tell me how much time I had and I was curious as to what it could do. So I started looking into it. After I found out that I had a huge amount of chakra, I started looking into how much chakra it took to do the cloning technique since they always looked so sickly and never came out correctly. Well, lo and behold I had so much chakra that it would be nearly impossible for me to graduate from the academy because I would never be able to do the Clone technique. That's not really fair because I could potentially learn amazing jutsu. But I'd be stuck in the academy because of that one nearly useless technique. So after I figured that out, don't know why but I wrote a note on the device, and when I came back the device was gone but instructions for 'this' jutsu were left there on my bed. So someone was trying to help me for the first time. I did however start to get concerned that someone came and went as they pleased in my apartment, so I learned how to change the locks, and to fix the windows which now lock by the way. As far as me graduating the academy was concerned, I don't know who did it, I just really wanted to think whatever it was because they Instructions on how to do the technique, the benefits of The memory retrieval, Which would help me to learn anything that I can much faster now, and warned me of the backlash sent when too many clones dispersed too fast. They also left me two Sets of instructions. One of which was A tree walking exercise, and then something called water walking. They said that I should work on those a lot, and it would help me with chakra control to help me become a better ninja. They wrote that they had heard me pro... proclaim...proclaiming, yeah, that's right. Proclaiming that I would take your hat some day, But they couldn't show the techniques to me, or reveal themselves in any way because They could get in a lot of trouble. But they believe in me and they really want to see me succeed and taking your hat and becoming the best Hokage this Village has ever had! I have burned the notes, and I have not been back in contact since."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was anything but a fool. He knew that Naruto received help most likely from Inu. But Naruto's story held just enough truth to it that he could let it go. But not without some form of punishment. It was a forbidden technique for a reason. He looked to the Mitarashi Dango Girl. "Since Naruto decided he is Big and bad enough to learn the Shadow clone technique, I think it's only right that he received some personal training for a few weeks. Mitarashi, I do believe you have some leave coming up soon. I would be extremely appreciative if you took a few weeks To whip Naruto Into fighting form. I want him to have the potential to be rookie of the year when he graduates! Three more years, But I think you can get the ball rolling." Well Anko had never really considered taking on students, or taking on an apprentice, but she couldn't help but allow a small sadistic grin to appear on her face."

Naruto seeing this stood, then knelt as he'd seen shinobi do when before the hokage. "Hokage-sama. Let's not be too hasty," Naruto tried, to the sandaime's amusement. "I can see the serpent of Eden in her eyes." Naruto's pleas fell on deaf ears. He was dragged out by the scruff of his belt buckle. The hokage then looked to Inu and inquired, "I am only going to ask this once. Was it you who taught Naruto these things, or left him these instructions?" "Negative sir," Inu answered more relaxed than the hokage would have liked. It meant that Inu spoke the truth. He'd have to have Naruto watched a little more closely. Maybe Danzo had something to do with it, he pondered.

* * *

Training Ground forty four- Shortly after reaching the forest of death Naruto realized just how much danger his life was truly in. He was thrown into an abyss full of creatures unknown. He didn't know what to do or where to go. He didn't have any weapons that he could think of at the moment or any food supplies. The crazy kunoichi dropped him in the middle of nowhere. She left with only a few parting words. 'Survive the next three days, and I will make you one of the most vicious shinobi Konoha's ever known.'

* * *

While Naruto wasn't happy to be left alone, he was more than willing to do whatever it took to become the best! And the moment those words left Mitarashi Anko's mouth, she knew that he had it in him. The fierce look of determination was once she had rarely seen. She looked forward to seeing if he actually would manage to survive her training.

* * *

2 Days Later, six o'clock in the evening.

* * *

Did we forget to mention it's near fall and starting to get cold? A black blur tore through the streets of Konoha. Those whose visual acuity were sharp enough to catch it saw a young boy no older than 10 riding upon the back of what looked to be a black panther. He wore a mixture a leather cloak over his torn shirt, and weathered pants. His anger was focused on two people at the moment. One, the Hokage who he had grown to love and respect as a grandfather. Two, the psycho bitch who had left him to die in a forest full of talking snakes and other vicious animals. Naruto swore his revenge on at least one of the two. As the Hokage was the leader of this Village he decided that the next best option would be Mitarashi. He was thankful that his backpack was thrown into the forest with him, as it contained a few tools from his family estate. 2 Kunai which he forgot he put in there, a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku Ramen from a the night of the most recent attack, and his scroll on chakra control. those three things allowed him to survive in that hell for 2 days.

And now Naruto would enact is Revenge! "Mitarashi Anko! You can run, and you can hide, but know this. You have started a war with Konoha's number one prince of revenge. The sultan of payback. The emperor of Karma. And your ass is mine!" young Naruto's voice rang across Konoha. Many felt a chill run down their spine that day. Doors and windows were closed and sealed. A beautiful black haired, red eyed Kunoichi in a flak jacket dropped down in front of Naruto and his large feline companion. Much to Naruto's annoyance, the cat didn't growl at her as he'd been training her to do over the last fifteen hours.

"Good girl Toragami," the woman said and said cat purred to which Naruto's jaw dropped. "From your declaration of war on Anko, I take it you are the one hokage-sama placed in her not so gentle care for the next three weeks or so?" Naruto nodded carefully as he didn't know this woman from the the dirt beneath his feet. But his apprehension lessened considerably when he heard a voice he rarely ever did. "Kurenai-san?!"

An adorable girl in a white jacket ran up beside her tutor in a protective position until she realized, "Na...Naruto..-kun?" Naruto couldn't help it. He grinned. "Hey Hinata-chan. What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Seeing Naruto in torn clothes, and a bit of bare skin, she reddened, and passed out. "Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out in worry. Kurenai caught Hinata before she hit the ground, but also took note at how fast Naruto dismounted and was at her side. She approved.

Hinata could use a friend or two like that. As a reward: "Hey kid, You've obviously been through a bit of headache. I wouldn't normally do this, but Anko played a dirty trick on me lately, and I want payback. This is a one time alliance only as I don't want my name linked to this at all, and I am a full shinobi and could get in a lot of trouble if caught." Naruto nodded his understanding. "Fine. Here's the deal. Anko's my best friend." Naruto was once again on the defensive, but Kurenai held up her hands in a surrendering type motion, "Remember what I said, I want payback. So here's a few things that 'no' one knows about her..."

* * *

Two hours later, Naruto had made his way home after stopping in at the Yamanaka flower emporium and had two dozen roses sent to Yuhi Kurenai, one dozen from 'Naruto,' the other from Sarutobi Asuma, whom Naruto worked out was her secret boyfriend pretty easily. Naruto also sent word to Asuma informing him that Kurenai did something awesome for him, so this was his way of saying thank you. Asuma would remember that in the future.

* * *

One hour later, The Hokage Office

* * *

The hokage felt his head was on fire with the massive headache of what Naruto declared loud enough to be heard in Iwa. He began to wonder if his punishment was a little too harsh. Anko stood there at attention ready to receive her disciplinary action for having the kid train where she did at his age. But much to her surprise, she wasn't chastised.

"Anko... I should take action for the harsh training regime you've started Naruto on, but it seemed to have had surprisingly quick results. I took a gander at what he did in there. He managed to learned tree climbing and branch leaping in a manner of four hours each while killing snakes, a bear, and semi domesticating a summoning Panther. So I will simply say this to you. Naruto is going to make it his life's work to make yours a living hell from this moment forward. And I have known Naruto a very long time. He is extremely inventive. Last major prank he pulled... Ugh. He managed to get into the chunin supply warehouse and stained over a thousand vest bright orange. I will never know how he did it."

Anko's mouth dropped open a little, but then regained her composure and asked, "Was he ever punished?"

"No. Two chunin sensei at the academy pissed him off and he took revenge on all Chunin. Fortunately most chunin still had their untarnished vest. And there was never any proof it was Naruto. None at all. And when I told you to train him, I didn't actually expect you to use ANBU as one of the methods. I am curious to see how this turns out."

While this didn't concern Anko at all, she was beginning to wonder about the mental stability of the one she was tasked with bringing up to speed.

* * *

One Hour Later

* * *

Naruto created ten clones which five escorted Toragami home and the other five as his personal entourage in case more villagers wanted to start a fight with him today. He made his way upstairs and into his apartment only to find none other than Mitarashi Anko looking through his box left to him by his parents. Naruto's eyes darkened and rage overcame him as his pupils dilated from their natural blue to black slits covered by a red retina. The killing intent radiating from Naruto was felt all the way at the ANBU headquarters. A bloodlust not felt since that fateful day. Inu who was about to go home for the day froze in place for but a second, then gripped his kohai and vanished in a shunshin, a body flicker so fast, it would have made the yondaime proud.

Naruto's only words were, "You just went too far snake bitch," referencing how many snakes tried to bite, main, or kill Naruto in the forest. "Sneaking into my apartment, and going through that box...Now you die!" For the first time in many, many years, Mitarashi Anko felt fear.


	3. Mitarashi Anko's Training Nightmare P2

Naruto: I am at three reviews after this long. Out of the way 'Twilight Evening.'

Batman: That's Dark Knight you prepubescent little shit!

SMSaske: Never! (Slices through the keyboard with his blade).

Batman and Naruto: What the flying bat crap?!

SMSasuke: Sorry guys, but this is staying rated T. NO LEMONS. HECK, not even LIMES if I have anything to say about it.

Batman: Nightwing, Raven, Changeling/Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire. Guest staring roles for the opening here, Now! SMSasuke's losing his mind. He's trying to take over the story. More so than even Naruto.

Nightwing: Understood. Titans, Go!

The titans raced forward and cornered SMSasuke before he realized the greatest weapon in the history of fanfiction.

SMSasuke: Deus Ex Machina- Inzanagi. Change the past to another fate jutsu!

Batman: No. Stop it from activating. He will try to incorporate that ridiculous plot device in the actual story!

SMSasuke: To late! Bwhahahahahahaha. Now let's see what I have changed, eh Batman?

Batman: Don't call me batman. It sounds too arrogant and cliché. While I still hold the mantle of batman, I shall be known as the Dark Knight, to go closer with my Pen Name. Bwahahahahaha.

SMSasuke: What have I done?!

Naruto: Can we get back to the why there isn't any um... sookie in this story?

SMSasuke: Kids might be reading it. What did you think this was, One of Jiraiya's books?

Naruto: Okay, fine, no sookie, but at least a little nookie? We'll keep it PG and have it much later in the story, after our hero/ heroes grow up a bit?

SMSasuke, and the Dark Knight: Deal.

Naruto: (To the crowd), sorry guys, I tried to get some sookie. But can we get a couple reviews now. It makes these lazy bastards work a bit faster. I mean I have seen a Nara with more drive.

* * *

Naruto knew when to leave well enough alone, despite his continued veil of being a moron most of the time. The few words he shared with his favorite academy sensei Umino Iruka the day before carried something ominous. He went to class as usual, and ignored all of the bickering, and the fangirls that swooned over the unfriendly neighborhood emo. But that is beside the point. He recently learned that he would be teamed up with said emo and Haruno Sakura. He didn't really know what to think. His anger boiled at being on a team with the Uchiha, but he had an on and off again crush on the pink haired 'princess,' his 'Sakura-chan,' much to the white eyed Hyuuga's fiery ire Naruto noticed soon after his return home... After class Naruto attempted to confront Iruka again.

"You just don't know when to give up do you?" Iruka asked, not angrily, but with obvious annoyance.

"I only ask because I care." Naruto deadpanned, but Iruka could hear the sincerity behind the sarcasm.

"Mizuki's fiance, a good friend of mine... commited sepaku last night.

Naruto having only known about it by description alone nearly up chucked his lunch, but did not as he wanted to be strong for his teacher. "I am sorry to hear that sensei. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You're a good kid Naruto, but worry about being a new genin while I worry about these particular problems."

Naruto nodded and then stated, "How about I treat you to some Ichiraku's later sensei?"

Iruka's jaw dropped. All pretenses of a serious conversation gone as Iruka mockingly pulled out a Kunai and shook it loosely as he asked, "Where is the real Uzumaki Naruto?!"

That went on for another moment or two, but Naruto decided to let Iruka mourn in peace. He was just glad he was able to help distract Iruka from the pain of loss for a few moments. As that is who Uzumaki Naruto was. A friend to those in need. Or so he'd like to tell himself.

* * *

Three years prior-

* * *

Naruto's anger surged like a tornado. The naturally blue aura, or life energy which resided within him was enveloped by a cloak of red with a not so vivid shape. Before she could speak, Naruto propelled forward which ripped his floor up beneath his feet. Upon hitting the young violet haired woman, she disappeared in a plume of smoke, dropping the letter which she once held.

"A Kage Bunshin!" Naruto roared, as the floors and walls began to crumble in his rage. Naruto closed his eyes for a few seconds in hopes of trying to calm down. But he failed. 'That woman' had gone too far. Naruto had never felt such rage. He didn't know how, but he felt the kunoichi of his ire's chakra trail. It reeked of fear. It being her chakra. Naruto narrowed his vision in on what was the forest he was just trapped in recently. His eyes opened, he grabbed his box to avoid further desecration of his parents artifacts then he leaped upward, tearing through the ceiling, and thus the roof of his apartment building. He blazed forward over rooftops like seasoned nin, a barefly visible red glow adorning his body. He finally made it to the gate at which he escaped the nightmarish hell that was what he learned was called the 'Forest of Death,' by those who had survived it's tests.

Naruto, sped by so quickly that he didn't even realize he tore through the ANBU traps they quickly set up to contain him. They followed at a safe distance as to not draw in civilians. Inu and his partner Tenzo took the lead as they were likely the only two outside of the Hokage who would be able to subdue Naruto without killing him.

Naruto raced through the forest like a madman. Almost completely lost to the hatred built inside of him. Anko on the other hand had finally regained her senses. She remembered that feeling. She knew it well. It was what killed her father nearly ten years ago, and left her alone. She then took a moment to realize what happened. She sent a clone to the brats house to learn a bit more about him on a personal level as she was going to be the one to train him up for a while. She found a hidden compartment, one an adept academy student might have been able to find with a little trouble, but for a full fledged shinobi? No challenge at all. But what she read could have changed the very foundations of Konoha forever. He was the son of the yondaime hokage, and Konoha's red hot habanero. Anko suddenly flipped out of the way as red encrusted fist nearly took off her head. She was disappointed in herself, but didn't have time to lament that. She flipped back again, and drew a kunai.

"Stop Damnit gaki!" Anko swore.

 _ **'Kill her. Make her blood stain the very walls of Konoha!'**_ a voice rung out in Naruto's head. A voice he didn't quite hear, but the emotions were there, loud and fill with hatred.

"Fuck you! You broke into my home! You learned something that I was supposed to take to my grave! I will kill you to make sure my parents secrets remain safe, and find a way to burn my body to powder to preserve my family's secrets!"

Two more figures appeared, although there were obviously more. Naruto's anger did something to him. His usually inept mindset sharpened like a finely sharpened katana. Naruto drew his own kunai, but instead of rushing forward, he placed his hands in his newly learned seal and silently called out, "Kage Bunshin."

Forty identical clones appeared. The one in the foremost front asked, "So," he licked the flat of the blade then asked, "how much blood will my blade draw this night?"

Without waiting for an answer, he and the group of his identical brothers nearly vanished in a burst of speed unnatural for someone of his reported skill level. The two ANBU who arrived sped forward as well and started cutting down the clones as the original stayed put. That did not sit well with Naruto especially when he saw the mask of his supposed Nii-sama decimating his clones as the memories returned to him. The red cloak vanished much to everyone's relief as Naruto fell to the ground with an anguished scream.

"Inu-san. You traitor!"

Inu visibly flinched at that which was not missed by Tenzo, or the newly rescued Anko.

Anko mentally noted, if the kid somehow survived this, do not mess with his stuff if she wanted to live. She wondered if he'd be that way where comrades were concerned, and decided it would be better if he was on Konoha's side than against.

Naruto's box already picked up by Inu as he slowly walked over to Naruto, Tenzo already in position to activate his special and extremely rare mokuton wood release to suppress Naruto's special red aura now that he could get close enough to do so.

The remaining ANBU waited outside the fence on Inu's orders. "Naruto, I stopped you from killing a Konoha kunoichi. You would have been put to death if that happened, no matter what happned. I needed to try to save her life and your own. Do you understand me?" he asked sternly.

To his heart's relief, Naruto nodded slowly. "Okay Everyone, listen up. This is a shit storm with which the village cannot deal with. I don't want to see Naruto killed, or 'worse,' put under Danzo's special ne' program. We know it still exist despite the so called dismissal of it twenty odd years ago. Naruto was only trying to keep his heritage safe because we know what the sandaime is willing to due to keep this secret. I am as loyal to the leaf as one can be, but Naruto is destined for much more than what he's been allowed in life so far. He's been treated like a pariah, the civilian council has too much power in Konoha, and I am tempted to accept my seat on the shinobi council, thus leaving ANBU to protect Naruto. You know just how much the Jonin Commander, ANBU commander, and Hokage would love to lose me in ANBU. Not many competent captains left.

Tenzu was loyal to Konoha, and the Hokage, but he could not forget how Kakashi moved heaven and earth for him, his kohai to free him from the evil machinations of Danzo many years ago. "I will back you senpai, but don't make me go against Konoha. I might have to perform sepaku first," he said in all seriousness.

Inu turned to Anko but was stopped before he could ask. She turned to Naruto said, "I know the importance of the secrets you hold gaki. I will take those secrets to the grave until the hokage declassifies that information. It is something …

A large group of shinobi appear and surround Inu, Tenzo, Anko, and Naruto with the Hokage leading the group. "...Take Naruto into custody and place chakra suppression seals on him."

One over zealous ANBU member appeared behind Naruto and punched the top of his head, knocking him out. Inu was upon him with his tanto out, and nearly sliced his head off, if not for the command, "Hold Inu!"

Inu held, and the ANBU in question retreated to what he considered a safe distance. "Should any try to harm this boy... they will discover why I am listed as 'flee on sight' in every major village's bingo book. Take my words lightly, and you may forfeit your life this evening.

"Inu!" The hokage roared.

Much to Inu's surprise, the his masked companion stepped forward, as well as Anko.

Another ANBU snidely said, "I always knew the snake bitch was a traitorous whore."

"Just like your mama right?" Anko replied deadpan. "I am about as much of a traitor to the leaf as a newborn child who's choices in life were taken away from him because of... the circumstances of his birth. I don't owe the brat anything now that I think about it... but after learning a few things... I can not in good conscience leave his side. I will protect him," she declared quietly as she raised her Kunai. Naruto's face lighting up as he saw people blatantly fighting for him for the first time. People that actually cared for him, and did more than just said empty words and gave empty promises.

"Enough Anko," the sandaime said, not unkindly, but with an authority with decades of practiced patience. "We will be taking the boy in. I have discovered that he knows things he should not at this age, and must do all I can to ensure he forgets them," distancing himself as much as possible from Naruto so he would not mentally break down and give into his 'inner grandfather.'

"I'm sorry hokage-sama. But you know I can't allow that to happen, considering his... particular situation. It could destroy his mind, or the Yamanaka's who'd try the technique."

"This is not up for debate Inu," he said a bit more harshly.

"No it's not," Inu said as if he was taking an afternoon stroll. He lifted his hitai-ite.

Every member of Anbu by the Hokage's side took a single step back. Anko, Tenzo and Inu went into different stances. Ninjutsu seals, Taijutsu positions respectively. Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. He really didn't want to lose those three, but he would take Naruto back by force if he needed too.

Finally fed up, he simply lifted his hand, and a horde of ANBU and Jonin hidden in the back flew forward like the fiercest of rabid animals. Naruto watched as Kunai clashed, katana slashed flak jackets, and shuriken fly through the air at amazing speeds. He finally decided he could no longer do nothing. He thought back on the few tactical lessons he learned in the scroll he took from his parents estate.

He crossed his fingers in anger as he looked at the hokage. This did not go unseen by Hiruzen. With a saddened heart, he cracked his knuckles as Naruto called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Upward of a thousand clones appeared and raced toward trees, punching and kicking 'enemy' shinobi as fast and as furiously as his ten year old body could. He and his clone army, those that were left started climbing up the trees, and made it up as high as they could. Naruto ordered them into attack. The remaining two hundred clones attacked from the sky while his 'ground' forces kept them from being noticed as much as possible. Naruto's eyes teared up at the idea of fighting his jiji. The man who had protected him. But tonight he was being treated like some sort of tool or weapon. Naruto grabbed his head in pain from the backlash of so many clones being dispelled at once. But he was determined to not give up.

"Naruto," the sandaime called out from slightly across the field. "You must stop this. You know the Kage Bunshin is a dangerous technique that you obviously aren't ready for. Let me help you."

"Fuck you old man!" Naruto screamed, his tears now covered his face. "You lied to me. Told me you didn't know who my parents were. I had to accidentally find out by a scratch letting me into the Uzumaki compound. A drop of blood was all it took to tell me everything I needed! I also read up on how to change it just enough that blood is no longer enough to open it. The secrets of my clan are for me and me alone!"

The moment Naruto revealed that, the sandaime's grandfatherly veneer vanished, and he raced forward at imperceptible velocity. He was upon Naruto who brought his hands up in a protective position above his head. Before the sandaime could do anything, Inu appeared before him at equal speeds and sliced downward with his tanto. The Sandaime managed to flip out of the way... barely."

"Inu... Otherwise known as Hatake Kakashi. You have attacked your hokage... You know the sentence," He said sadly. "Execute him!"

"Damnit sempai. I told you not to put me in compromising positions!" Tenzo complained as he stood side by side with his oldest and dearest friend.

Inu, now identified as Kakashi quickly raced through a long sequence of hand seals before the first shinobi could get within ten feet and he called out, "Suiton: Great Water Dragon no Jutsu!"

A small riverbank was near and Kakashi managed to call forth a dragon with a small waterfall's worth from the lake. The mighty beast like apparition descended like the hand of Kami, delivering his swift and righteous wrath. Even the hokage was thrown back in surprise that Kakashi had that kind of power.

Before another move could be made, a loud thunderous whistling sound could be heard. It got louder and louder as an equally thunderous voice could be heard, "Konoha's BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE JUTSU!"

"Scatter," Anko ordered her group, and the Hokage's group did the same as they knew what was coming.

A massive figure fell through the sky and slammed onto the ground and the shock wave sent everyone flying back. The massive figure's appearance now clear as a toad of the Myoboku clan drew a large naginata and slammed it into the ground as another figure leaped off of the top of sad toad's head.

Landing, this tall, long white haired man landed with a thundering roar of his own. His covered in the markings of the Legendary sennin, or sage mode of the gama/toads. His nose exaggerated in size and warts visible due to his technique.

This man took a quick glance around, and upon seeing the hokage, and focused on the older man as he asked, "Where is he sensei?"

"We can talk after this situation is handled Jiraiya... Kakashi has turned traitor and it seems as if Anko and Tenzo have joined him."

Ignoring his hokage's words, he asked again, but with a much darker tone. "Where is my godson? I won't ask a third time sensei."

Sarutobi froze in shock from his most loyal student's behavior.

"Jiraiya Dai-chichi?" a small voice asked from behind Kakashi who was still on guard.

Jiraiya sighed. "Yeah kid. And before you ask, I was ordered to stay out of the village and away from you to protect you. I am breaking the hokage's law to be here now, but I have the daimyo's backing to which not even the hokage can stand against."

Hiruzen's old eyes narrowed as he asked, "What is the meaning of this?"

"A few days ago a seal appeared on my arm. That seal was made by Kushina and placed on me as a fail safe in case something ever happened to her and Minato. If the family property was not touched for over a year, and then someone gained access, then Naruto was likely still alive. You kept me away from the village to keep this hidden from me. Be glad that Tsunade has not been made aware yet." His voice still cold, but it wasn't that which made the old hokage shiver. It was the thought of his other remaining friendly student Tsunade that he feared. Especially if she found out he had hidden Naruto from her.

"I was on my way back when I decided to take in a quick stop with my old friend the daimyo. We drank for a bit until the tale of Namikaze Minato and Kushina Uzumaki was finished. I explained the difference between the refrigerator, and food inside it." Jiraiya stated carefully. "And after three days of correspondence by summons and Inu informing me of what Naruto has been through, the Daimyo was more than willing to grant me these official decrees," he took out, and tossed over to his sensei. Said sensei could tell they were copies, as Jiraiya was not stupid.

Jiraiya then continued. "Anyone seen as helping Naruto, especially in his time of need will forgo any charges, and be granted a commendation for their bravery considering what he holds."

Hiruzen was seething. He truly did love Naruto, but could no one else see that he was doing this for the boy's safety. Jiraiya intervened before that argument could be made. "I can see you are torn sensei. But know that I am aware of how much you care for him. But your methods were meant for a time of war. We are not in wartime sensei. Save that sort of thinking for the old war hawk Danzo. I am taking Naruto, and his body guards here out of Konoha for a while until things cool down. Stay off the Uzumaki property. I will reinforce the seals as well. Tsunade will be glad to hear she has a family member left."

That bit of information caught most of the nin there off guard. The 'demon' was related to one of the legendary sanin. The granddaughter of the first hokage himself.

"Her grandmother was an Uzumaki after all." Jiraiya reminded.

Hiruzen had no choice but to acquiesce to his students demands. There were far too many witnesses to make it all disappear quietly.

"Naruto will return in a year or two. I will have made sure he learns what he will have needed to in the academy as well as a few other tricks to give him an edge. You need to get your house in order sensei... or find someone else to wear the hat."

Jiraiya walked over toward Naruto. Jiraiya walked past Kakashi who was in a bit of shock. He placed his hand down to the area where Naruto had been knocked back by the crash of the giant toad. Naruto took the offered hand as he said, "Hello Naruto."

Naruto's eyes teared up joyfully as he jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Jiraiya's torso. "Hello godfather."

* * *

To Be Continued... In September. Don't forget to Fave, Follow and ReviEw to show your love.


	4. The Daimyo's Headache Part 1

The Dark Knight: SageModeSasuke has been a busy little bee it seems. He snuck ahead and wrote two chapters for your beautiful people with the two prompts I gave him... I thought it would only be one chapters, but can't complain. It looks pretty freaking awesome.

Naruto: I am so going to kick Tsunade's ass.

SageModeSasuke: What's wrong Naruto?

Naruto: You wrote the freaking chapter?! You tell me?

SageModeSasuke: Ut oh... Let's not keep the good people waiting Naruto... Wait. Put down that meat cleaver. Wait, what do you need that Nutcracker for. We're out of nuts... Oh shit!

The Dark Knight: On with the show. Oh.. WAIT. The guest who wrote something or other about 'hinatits' has all but made this a NaruHina story. Thanks for the help in deciding the paring. Maybe another option will change our minds later, but as of right now, SMSasuke is happy as it's his OTP anyway.

SageModeSasuke: Shut up you bastard. I told you not to tell anyone about that!

Naruto: Oh SageModeSasuke, hehehehe. Come out and playee... Oh yeah, on with the show!

* * *

The world spun for the young Uzumaki as he gripped the white haired sage with all of his might. The warrior was accompanied by a purple haired, fiery beauty, a wood controlling shinobi, and a silver haired vengeance personified. The newly formed Team Jiraiya crushed multiple attempts to prevent them from leaving Konoha as a stunned Hokage stood in shock. His long time friend Danzo took command temporarily until Hiruzen came back to his senses. Upon doing so, he ordered the chase ended as it was a direct decree by the daimyo. He only hoped Naruto would one day forgive him for the choices he made.

* * *

Twelve long hours later, Hi no Kuni Capital: Daimyo Palace.

* * *

Naruto was allowed to sleep until he awoke of his own volition. His young eyes fluttered and tried to focus despite being in a massive, dark, barely lit room. His first instinct was to jump back and into a fighting position. His only company who was hidden in a shadow smiled as he slowly walked out. Naruto felt for his shuriken pouch, and found it still there. He gripped it quickly and drew two respectively and summoned ten kage bunshin as he commanded, "Identify yourself?"

"Your parents would be proud of your instincts gaki." the baritone voice stated as he stepped fully out of the shadows.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he tried to place the familiar face, then he took in a quick breath as he said, "Godfather?"

"It's me little one. You are safe now. I will make sure you stay safe now, for as long as I am breathing. I am sorry I wasn't there for you in your younger days, but I was protecting you from the threats outside of Konoha. Your father and mother had enemies who would have burned Konoha to the ground to get to you if they found out you were alive to avenge their loved ones your parents killed in the previous war."

Naruto slowly placed his kunai back in their pouch as he sat on the bed and looked downtrodden. "I trusted the old man." tears started to fall.

"Don't count that old monkey out yet. He must think of the village first as he is the hokage... but I can honestly say he cares for you... otherwise, there would have been a lot more shinobi sent out to attack us and made our journey here much harder."

That made Naruto's eyes widen slightly. "Thank you for that godfather. It's good to know he didn't entirely hate me and just put on a show for the demon boy."

Jiraiya was a little shocked at that last part, but was stopped before he could ask, "I found documents my father left which, on top of everything else It wasn't hard to put together I had the fox put inside of me."

Jiraiya rubbed his suddenly aching head. "You are not the fox Naruto. It would take too long to explain the intricacies of sealing to you this evening. But the long and short of it is... You are a bottle with a cap on the top. The fox is the liquid sealed inside of the jar. You understand?"

Naruto slowly nodded his understanding. He again hugged his godfather, who wasn't used to such genuine familial affection, but he couldn't help but to hold onto his godson as if he'd never hold him again. For the first time in many years Jiraiya felt a sense of family and he would be damned if he let that feeling go.

"Excuse me, but where are we anyway?" Naruto finally asked, noting he didn't recognize ever seeing such a nice room before, not that he'd been invited to many nice places.

"We are in the Imperial Palace of the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni." Jiraiya saw the confused look on Naruto's face before simplifying it by saying, "The Hokage's boss."

Naruto's already saucer sized eyes nearly bulged out of his head at that tidbit. Jiraiya chuckled slightly at that. "He heard about how bad you were being treated and insisted you be brought here to be trained in the ninja arts. Old school training. Not that crap they teach in the academy. That way you can defend yourself..."

To Jiraiya's suprise, Naruto interrupted him with the oddest request. "Will I be able to return?"

Jiraiya's heart nearly froze at that. "Why in Kami's name would you go back after the way people treated you?"

"I still have a few people in Konoha who I looked up to and looked after me. I will become Hokage and make changes in that rat hole of a village, and make it something our daimyo can be proud of."

Jiraiya's pride in his godson soared beyond the mortal coil. He knew what he had to do. He would teach his godson how to be the most fearsome shinobi the world had ever known. He would leave Minato's former legacy in the dust. His godson had what he respected the most in a ninja. Guts.

After a few more minutes of connecting with his godson, he wished him a good night and met up with the daimyo who insisted on speaking to Jiraiya after Naruto woke.

* * *

The Daimyo's Conference Room

* * *

"...and he should not be allowed to go back to that shit hole until it's been cleaned up and a new hokage has been put in place." the daimyo ranted at how the young Namikaze had been treated.

Not wanting to betray his sensei, despite his own anger, Jiraiya stated, "I don't think it's all on Sarutobi Hiruzen. I know you have a vested interest in Naruto's well being your grace, but I must ask that you hold back your wrath sir."

"Hold back my wrath?!" the daimyo exploded. "My wrath is held back. If not I would have ordered your secret forces directly under me to burn Konoha to cinders Jiraiya!"

"Please sir!" Jiraiya pleaded fiercely. "Don't make me do that to my home. I will make them see reason. Or at least those who matter."

The daimyo had rarely ever seen Jiraiya lose his composure under any circumstances. That slowed his tirade to a stop. He took his seat again and sighed, took a sip of his imported wine as he tried to compose himself. "Damn it Jiraiya. I will not be seen as weak as letting someone of his pedigree get treated like dirt. He is of royal blood. Directly descended from the fucking Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure no Sato. An ally of Konoha before it's untimely fall."

The daimyo took a deep breath and then after a moment of consideration he ordered, "This is my proclamation as the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. Uzumaki Naruto is now a ward of the palace Hi no Kuni. He is granted royal protection from those that would harm him in Konoha, and those outside it's gates and borders. He will be trained by you in fuinjutsu in remembrance of his family, and other arts by you and those you brought with you. He will also be trained by my personal guard in swordsmanship and diplomacy. He wants to go back to Konoha one day? Fine. I want him well educated, and I want him strong enough to TAKE the fucking Hokage seat if I deem it by the time he would have graduated the academy!"

Jiraiya tried to take a step back out of shock, but fell backwards into the coat of knight's armor and nearly had his head split from the ax said coat held. After a few moments, Jiraiya managed to regain his footing. He didn't know how he would accomplish what was necessary, but was smart enough to not tell that to the daimyo. Jiraiya was sweating as he received a nod. An obvious dismissal.

* * *

Two weeks later, the Twelve Guardian's Training Ground Two.

* * *

"Faster Naruto!" Jiraiya called as he sent another sweep Naruto's way, who did a back flip to a hand stand, then back to his feet to avoid his godfather's insane speed. Naruto was bloodied, bruised, and pissed.

"What the fuck is wrong with you you evil bastard. I thought you were supposed to be my godfather, not my abuser!"

Jiraiya had been pushing Naruto extremely hard, and got on the other senseis for being too lenient on him. But Naruto's words really caused him to pause. They really hit a sore spot, and hurt him deeply. "Abuser?" Jiraiya stopped his attack and asked sadly.

"Yes abuser. I know you told the daimyo you would whip me into shape for some reason, but I have gotten beat by you more than I ever got back home! I have had to be healed by the palace medic nin every day for two weeks!" Naruto retorted angrily, but stopped upon noticing Jiraiya's face. He usually didn't wear his emotions so openly, but he looked torn to Naruto's young eyes.

"Okay. Maybe I have been pushing you to the breaking point..."

"Maybe?!" Naruto spat rhetorically.

Jiraiya knew that if he didn't tell Naruto something he would lose the little trust he'd established with the boy. He sat down and motioned for Naruto to do the same. Naruto released his angry stance, and sat across from Jiraiya.

"Look Naruto. I'm sorry if I am pushing you more than you think I should, but the Daimyo wants you strong enough to take Konoha by storm when you go back for the genin exams. He wants you strong enough to take on... a certain super powerful Jonin. I am reluctant to tell you, but it might inspire you. He wants you to be at a sanin level. We of the legendary... three are each strong enough to take on the hat of the Hokage."

Naruto's look of utter shock was replaced by one of utter defiance. His injuries were not bad enough to need the medic, so his inner healing method kicked in and he was back to eighty percent. He flipped up onto his feet and said, "What are you waiting for?! Move it old man!"

While Jiraiya felt slightly insulted at being called old, being barely fifty but chuckled slightly at Naruto's quick change of attitude. But he nearly blew out the back of his pants at his godson's next movement and words."

Naruto flipped back again to gain a bit of room for a second and placed his hands in a crossed half ram formation and narrowed his eyes as he nearly screamed out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, thinking this had to be a joke. The joke was when over three hundred Naruto's appeared around him and Jiraiya's heart nearly burst out of his chest at the amount of Chakra required to create one shadow clone.

"Group yourselves into twenties," Naruto ordered. Once the stubborn clones realized their creator was in no mood for games after looking around and seeing the amount of their 'brothers,' they fell into step. "Good job boys. I need you, group one to find Kakashi-nii and force him to train you in ninjutsu. If he doesn't, steal his orange book, and warn him I have tons of chakra left, so if he destroys you all, I will send more and more until he relents. Clear?"

"Crystal Clear Sir!" they called back enthusiastically as they would get to mess with their new perverted older brother. Naruto realized how much of a pervert his brother was as he glanced at Kakashi's open book on his night stand when he was tasked with waking him up as part of Anko's training.

"Group two, find Yamato and ask him to help on your base swordsmanship skills until the 'twelve' are free to help. Group three, find Anko and have her help with Stealth, and etiquette classes." Upon hearing stealth, the group was excited, but remembered Anko's last etiquette class and groaned."

"No whining. You all heard what our ero-godfather said right? The daimyo wants us to be strong enough to hold my own against someone like jiji. Do 'you' want to be the reason we failed the daimyo. The one who is letting us live in a freakin' palace! The one who is letting us live here? Or do you want to go home unprepared, where the barely above average civilian can whip our asses and take what's ours?!"

"No sir!" was the expected answer. Naruto just didn't expect such a fierce reply, but after a few seconds of thought, he realized they were him, and he was pissed at his past circumstances. He thrust his fist in the air and yelled, "We will become the best Hokage Konohagakure no Sato has ever had, and will make it shine like a star upon the maps of the world!"

The next group was sent to work on calligraphy, and another to work on chakra control exercises Jiraiya suggested. After everyone was finally in place he also mentioned, "Have your clones disperse a little at a time. Too many sending info back at once could fry your brain."

A chill went down Naruto's spine, but he carefully created five more clones and sent them off to get the word out.

"Jiraiya-sama!" A young warrior in training called as he raced over to him, nearly out of breath. "Dai...daimyo-sent me with this pouch of jewels and..."

"Slow down kid. Breathe," Jiraiya suggested good-naturedly.

The young man nodded in appreciation and took a few seconds to catch his breath before continuing. "The Great Monolith, our king and master; The Daimyo Kirito-sama has requested that you bring Tsunade here to assist with master Namikaze's training..."

"Uzumaki," Naruto interrupted ubruptly. His eyes sharp and unrelenting.

"I'm sorry?" the young man asked confused.

"My father is of the house Namikaze... hm.." he sighed, "but I have been an Uzumaki all of my life. I will honor my mother's clan by keeping the name I have grown accustomed to. I am Uzumaki Naruto of the Uzumaki Clan." he said quietly, but with a fierceness which left no room to argue.

"Well said young man," a voice said from behind him. Naruto swung around and flipped backwards and into a defensive position.

"Who are you, and how did you sneak up on me?" Naruto asked as he pulled out a kunai. Jiraiya was upon Naruto and quickly took the kunai much to Naruto's shock.

"Naruto... It's not nice to attack our host and leader of all of Hi no Kuni." He said in hopes the Daimyo found the even humorous.

"I approve Jiraiya, but I should not have been able to sneak up on him. I was only trained up to a high level Chunin in skill level before I was required to take over as daimyo."

Jiraiya's shoulders sank, but daimyo or not, Jiraiya had to make something clear. "Please forgive my impertinence daimyo-sama... but your expectations of Naruto being kage level shinobi in three years is nearly impossible... even with his insane kage bunshin method he just revealed. Maybe high jonin 'if' and only if we don't allow him to have anymore of his childhood and fill it only with training."

Daimyo Kirito was slightly pissed... especially since Jiraiya brought this up in front of Naruto, but found wisdom in the sage's words. He lowered his head slightly in thought. After a moment he said, "You are right. We shall push young master Nami..." but stopped in slight amusement at the young Uzumaki's glare. "Escuse me. I must have misspoke. I meant young master Uzumaki's training. I will personally assist with the political details of ruling as those laws were pounded into my head.

Naruto sighed as he didn't like decisions being made for him, but fell into step. This was the man who wanted him to possibly take over as the next hokage. He turned toward the daimyo and looked directly into his eyes defiantly before kneeling, lowing his head in submission and stating, "I live to serve the daimyo and hi no kuni. I thank you for your kindness and generosity sire. I will never forget it."

The daimyo knew it took a lot for the boy to submit like that. He felt that Naruto meant every word and his betting on the boy would pay off one hundred fold in the long run.

A few short minutes after the daimyo left Jiraiya bit his finger and drew a little blood and performed the requisite hand seals and slammed the bloodied hand on the ground as he called out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A human sized puff of smoke appeared and revealed a majestic looking toad with twin Katana. One on each side.

The toad glances around and takes note of Jiraiya and Naruto. "Oh. Hello there Jiraiya-san. I hope all is well with you. Though I wonder why you'd summon someone as clumsy as me to assist you... with whatever it is you are in need of help with."

"I need you to deliver a message to Tsunade for me Gamaken. She is in Tanzuka Gai Provence for at least the next two weeks. Give her these, and, and tell her she will get more after a visit to the daimyo's estate. It's important, and her coffers would look a little better spilling over with a little extra money." Jiraiya explained as he handed over a very small satchel with three formidably sized diamonds in them.

* * *

Time Skip: Three Weeks Later-

* * *

Naruto atop the first three steps before a flat surface pointed angrily at Tsunade as he screamed, "Take. It. BACK!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, and prepared to walk off, not expecting much of the little 'gaki.' Naruto flipped over her head and brought his foot down in a powerful heel kick. Tsunade easily side stepped the attack, but was caught off guard at the indentation on the ground thanks to the training seals his parents made. Naruto flipped back again, and grabbed on of the training swords from the area he'd set aside just an hour prior after his practice with the Eternal Genin, Maruboshi Kousuke who'd agreed to give him a few free lessons as he was escorting the Hyuuga delegation to meet with the Daimyo.

Naruto's eyes flashed red for but a second as he once again demanded, "Take IT BACK!" his voice nearly an octave deeper than it should have been, menace dripping from ever word, but Tsunade was not one of the legendary three for no reason.

Tsunade released a formidable amount of killing intent. Enough to make even a few of the daimyo's weaker elite guard trainees nearly fall over. Naruto was brought to his knees. He saw his very nightmares of being killed in hundred of different ways.

Naruto gritted his teeth and forced himself up and placed the sword in a forward thrusting position as he said for the last time, "Take it back! Nobody insults the fucking Hokage of the Hidden Leaf in my Presence!"

* * *

To Be Continued... In a few minutes. Surprise! Double Update Day! Special thanks to those who read and review our story. We appreciate the support!


	5. The Daimyo's Headache Part 2

Naruto: Shut up everyone. I am on a warpath. Now where the bag of stool is that blonde haired green overcoat wearing drunk ass bitch?!

The Dark Knight: Sorry Folks, but we are having... difficulties with Naruto tonight. Enjoy the show!'

* * *

Naruto's own killing intent ignited for the first time without the help of his tenant. While it was new and unrefined, it was enough to make Jiraiya, who was in his temporary study leap out of said window and race toward his ward and his former teammate. He knew he shouldn't have left them alone just yet. But who would have thought Naruto had the balls to take on one of the Sanin for mouthing off about the Hokage. He heard Naruto's rants and felt the intent toward Tsunade as he got closer. Naruto was sending powerful sword thrust toward Tsunade. Then he tried swiping left, then right. He tried sliding under one of her kicks to sever the other leg, but Tsunade was too skilled for that. She used her other leg to leap to the side. Naruto was fed up by then.

"I think it's time to show you what happens when the adopted daughter of Mito Uzumaki, the Red Fucking Shinigami and the Son of Konoha's Yellow Flash have a kid you drunk bitch!"

Tsundade was slightly taken aback by finding out this boy was in a way related to her, but didn't have time to think much on it as the next much quieter words she heard left his mouth. "Ninpou: Tajuu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Jiraiya who stood off just out of the fire zone stopped to see just how well his godson would do going all out as he only saw Naruto normally, but never pushed beyond his limits. Never a real battle, and Not when he finally pushed back. He admitted to himself that it was a sight to behold as at least four hundred kage bunshin/clones appeared. Each with murderous glares on their faces.

Naruto's body started to emit a dangerous red aura. Jiraiya was about to step in when he saw Naruto slam his foot down and gritted out, "Calm your nine tailed ass down. This bitch is mine, and mine alone."

The daimyo himself had joined Jiraiya, alongside Hiashi, and his eldest daughter, who stood behind him slightly. Jiraiya placed his hand back to prevent the daimyo from interfering. They daimyo was not accustomed to being told no. It didn't set well with him, but knew Jiraiya would not let things get to far.

Jiraiya blinked back his surprise, as well the daimyo. Hinata gripped onto her father's overcoat. Normally he would have chastised her for showing this sign of weakness. But he could not fault her. It was a burst of the Kyuubi's killing intent. Hiashi himself was almost paralyzed by his own fear, but the love he held for his daughter allowed him to move an inch forward and hardened his disposition, and he would tear the blond brat in two before he'd allow his daughter to be hurt... not that he would ever show that side of himself willingly.

While all of this happened, Naruto had been in a face off with Tsunade. Neither had moved until Naruto finally said, "Apologize for talking down about my family, and the Hokages, or you likely aren't leaving here alive."

Naruto had never threatened someone's life. Jiraiya was startled by that and wondered if maybe they had trained him too fast, and started to break his fragile mind, as the boy was still only ten. Naruto entered into the style he'd found inside a scroll his mother hid inside of the one his father gave to him. It was not the one Jiraiya or any of the other had been teaching him, so Jiraiya was obviously confused when he saw an oddly familiar style, though he could not quite place it. Tsunade had enough and slammed her foot down and destroyed eighty of the closest kage bunshin from the shockwave alone.

Naruto knew he could spam the clones for a while, but he knew she was in Jiraiya's league so he had to end this quickly. He gave a command he was thinking before making the clones. "I will join those who set upon the hokage mountain...Execute plan zero-one. Eliminate her."

As Jiraiya stood up from his knelt position to step in, he saw each two clones going into a formation of one's hand placed out and the other rotating chakra with two hands. The chakra started to stabilize as a circular ball of energy began to form.

"Impossible," Jiraiya whispered.

"Rasengan!" One hundred sixty kage bunshin called out as they flung themselves at the blonde enemy.

"He found a way around the power and rotation problem for the third step," Jiraiya said in pride, but shook that off as he saw Tsunade's equally shocked look, but took note that she touched her forehead and activated her Seal of One Hundred.

Tsunade leaped above all of the rasengan wielding clones, but some of the clones used the ones in front of them as springboards. Thirteen Rasengan hit the buxom woman and sent her flying. The shock wave that hit the ground dispersed the rest of the clones, including those still mid air.

Naruto stood back up as even he was knocked on his ass from the force of the hit. Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw Tsunade standing up with a dark intricate design appear over her skin, but he remembered what Jiraiya said over the last week. If he lost his temper, keep cool in a fight anyway. So Naruto asked, anger still present, "You dissed my adopted grandpa Hashirama via my mother's side, and my father Minato. Not to mention the old man who's been like a grandfather to me. I will ask you one last time; ready to apologize yet bitch?"

Before the blink of an eye, Tsunade had crossed the distance and Naruto was launched into the sky, his bones shattered upon impact. Hinata who had been behind her father screamed, "Naruto-kun!" and ran from around her father into the thick of battle. Hiashi was too shocked to move. All of his experience as a shinobi never expected Tsunade of the Sanin to attack, much less attempt a fatal strike against her own family, much less who is believed to be Konoha royalty. Hinata's ten year old form clearly showed a nearly uncontrolled rage as she didn't have many friends. But she would always remember the little boy who stood up for her years earlier against three bullies who teased her about her eyes, and got hurt protecting her.

Hinata entered her family's jyuuken taijutsu style and started attacking the blonde haired monster who had attacked her short time classmate from the academy. Her small crush. Tsunade easily avoided the hits, but took note that the young Hyuuga's eyes transformed without the requisite hand signs for someone so young. Her anger still surging, but her senses returned slowly. She tapped the young Hyuuga girl on the shoulder and she fell unconscious.

That woke Hiashi. He raced forward, his own Byakugan activated. Tsunade leaped away from the girl and stated, "The girl is fine. Just unconscious."

Hiashi glared at her and said, "You'll be lucky if you see freedom again. And if I have my way, your life will due just as well."

While this was going on, Jiraiya who had not been gathering Natural energy nor drew blood managed to subconsciously pull his two senjutsu toad masters Fukasaku, and his wife Shima appeared on his shoulders in puffs of smoke and Senjutsu energy was racing toward Jiraiya at extremely dangerous speeds. To much for the special staff strike to work to dispel the natural energy. Without words they focused the energy and activated Jiraiya's now nearly complete sage mode. Something he'd never came close to before. His shock broken as he propelled forward. The man's speed was superhuman as he managed to reach Naruto before he hit the nearest tree. Fukasaku and Shima were barely able to remain on his shoulders. Jiraiya cradled the boy Naruto, tears forming in his eyes.

Jiraiya then focused on Tsunade who then felt killing intent that she hadn't felt in her lifetime. It was more fearsome than her sensei, Jiraiya's normally and Orochimaru's combined. It took all she had with her seal still active not to fall to her knees. She saw her death one hundred times over, in one thousand different ways. "Tsunade," Jiraiya warned, his normally baritone voice now extremely deep, "You will heal him. Because if he dies, I will deny you your tomorrow."

The Daimyo's personal guard arrived and surrounded him and the Hyuuga guests with a barrier shield as some of the Naruto clones destroyed the small wooden bridge leading to the castle from some of the rasengans un-stabilizing after Tsunade's last strike to the Kage Bunshin. Luckily lady Shijimi and their daughter Kiriko were gone for the day to Konoha to retrieve the royal neko (cat) Tora.

Tsunade had never seen this side of Jiraiya, and she assumed no one else had either. Blood spilled out of the boys mouth as life drained from his body, but she still moved forward as her fear of her former teammate dwarfed her fear of blood ten fold currently. A few moments later, Tsunade's assistant Shizune returned from an errand outside of the palace. She sped up as she felt Jiraiya's killing intent, though it was much weaker from where she was... but she knew it was his from a little mental training she underwent when Tsunade and Jiraiya had their last argument. Before she could make it to her master to find out what happened, Kakashi, Anko, and Tenzo appeared as Naruto's training clones vanished from their assigned training areas. They immediately blocked Shizune as they took note of Naruto and Jiraiya's now darkened areas around his eyes.

It was As if the very life had been drained from them.

"Let me help her. I don't know what is going on, but if he is in danger, and my master was a part of it, then it is my responsibility to assist in making things right. Now let me PASS!" Shizune ordered. Jiraiya wasn't in the mood to deal with a young uppity Jonin, but knew that Shizune's medical prowess was formidable in her own right, so he nodded, granting her permission to proceed.

Seeing the ground drenched with blood, Shizune glanced around, and carefully pulled out a scroll deliberately titled, 'medical,' so she would not be attacked. "We need a familial donor. How close is this boy's closest relative?" she asked.

Tsunade sighed in defeat as she said, "Apparently I am. In all of the turmoil... I am sure I heard him say that he was related to Kushina somehow, and I am part Uzumaki on my grandmother's side."

"It might be a close enough familial match, and I can purify the transfusion if there are any rejection issues. I see his natural, and external healing forces trying to heal him as well. That helps." Shizune confirmed as she began making a makeshift emergency operating room. Jiraiya created seals to keep out particulates at Shizune's request to keep Naruto from getting infected.

* * *

Elsewhere-

* * *

" **You stupid, stupid child. You nearly got me killed. WAKE UP when I speak to you!"** a very malicious voice called out.

Naruto's eyes were fighting against him. They would not open. But at that last roar of anger, he found the strength to be offended. He managed to open his eyes and glanced over at the enormous cage with the golden bars. He took note of a gigantic silhouette with nine tails swishing violently. Naruto's face narrowed in anger and said, "So... My tenant finally decides it's worth his time to talk to me. Well too fucking bad. I'm busy. Seeing as I am seeing you, you rabbit eared bastard mother fucker, I take it I am making a mental connection with my seal to speak with you. And yes, I know it's been you who healed me, and for that I am grateful... but you killed my kaa-chan and tou-chan. I've got nothing to say to you. And before you start going on about how your are going to eat me, or break out of the seal or some stupid shit like that... I have been studying Fuinjutsu. I know how my seal was made and thanks to an unhealthy amount of Kage Bunshin, and massive migraines, I know how to tighten the reigns. We'll likely never be friends. But if you behave, I will try to make your life a little less... uncomfortable than my mom's seal was for you. The only reason you even get that much was I saw how brutal you were treated in that seal from the few glimpses at the diagram of hers... and how you might have even went a little ballistic at the chance to be free from suffering through that again." Naruto's words surprised the beast. He was angry at nearly dying, but his words also showed a wisdom beyond his ten years. Naruto felt a strong gush of wind as he heard a deep and menacing laugh.

* * *

The next thing he knew was he opened his eyes and was lying on the bed in the room the daimyo had assigned him.

"Go back to sleep otouto," Kakashi ordered from a chair at the edge of Naruto's sight, an orange book in his hands as always. "You've had quite a week."

"Week?" Naruto questioned, but before Kakashi could elaborate, a blazing alarm of loud chimes and bells went off. Naruto slowly sat up and winced as he stood, still in a lot of pain, but his body's regenerative properties would finish healing him soon he 'knew.'

He opened his second story window upon seeing a battalion of Konoha shinobi with the Konoha flag with half of them on horseback, including the Hokage who rode forward as the Daimyo himself rode forward on a steed of his own.

"What is the meaning of this?" Daimyo Kirito demanded, praying it was not a coup.

An anbu stepped forward beside the Hokage and removed his mask, to infer just how far Hiruzen was willing to go to get what he wanted this particular evening. It was the betrayer of Konoha. The clanslayer elite. The one and only, Uchiha Itachi. The daimyo's horse instictively took a few steps back.

Equally direct, the hokage replied, "I received word that my former student someone who is like a grandson to me. I have come for her head. Where is Senju Tsunade?! Where is the woman who has killed the boy I loved as if he were my own. The woman who would dare kill Uzumaki Naruto?!" He screamed out in anguish and rage.

"Oi Jiji!" Naruto's voice carried across the yard from his window.

The sandaime-hokage froze for less than a second and then tried to dispel any genjutsu as did a few of his generals Nara Shikaku, and Shimura Danzo.

"Na...Naruto my boy? Is it really you?" He asked carefully. "Where are you?"

"In my room old man. What does it take to let a guy heal and get some sleep around here?"

Hiruzen placed his hand in the 'hold' position and his troops fell silent, and stilled their trigger happy weapons and jutsu. The hokage then dismounted and knelt before his daimyo. The rest of his forces did the same. "Please forgive this old fool daimyo-sama. I still want Tsunade's head in a hand basket, but I should have confirmed his death first."

The daimyo laughed and said, "I was the one who ordered you informed of his death. If I would have known you'd answer with this, I would have tested you much sooner." The daimyo yelled to Naruto, "Sorry Naruto, but it looks like this old geezer has a few more years in him as Hokage."

"Damn! I was looking forward to taking the hat in a year. Oh. And where is Tsunade? I've still got a bone to pick with her."

"She is to be executed in two hours time." The daimyo sighed and said much more seriously. "If you must see her, do it now."

"Oi! Daimyo-sama. Seeing as it was me she tried to kill, shouldn't I get a say in whether she dies or not?" Naruto stated, remember lessons the daimyo himself gave him on politics and law.

The daimyo contemplated it for a moment, and then stated, "Your voice will be heard and you will have a say... but the final decision remains mine. Are we clear master Uzumaki?"

"Yes sir daimyo-sama." Naruto agreed reluctantly. "Thank you."

All of this time Kakashi was outside of view palming his face.

* * *

MINI OMAKE

* * *

-With the daimyo-

* * *

"So Hiruzen... Care to tell me why the murderer of a clan is here under the banner of the leaf?"

"Oh shit," Hiruzen realized, "Ninja, Vanish!"

* * *

-MINI OMAKE OVER-

* * *

Ten minutes later, the castle dungeon

* * *

Tsunade sat shackled with suppression seals to prevent her from accessing her devastating enhanced strength, or any other chakra related skills. She was sweaty, dirty, and had not been allowed to eat until Shizune threatened not to perform an emergency surgery on one of the returning guardians from a mission. Her chakra suppressed also blocked her youthful look from covering her actual age.

The guard knocked on the specialized chopping block's cell door out of courtesy, as his wife who had passed was a medic and all but worshiped Tsunade. He treated her kindly due to that, much to the daimyo's annoyance, but allowed it upon finding out the reason. That is also why Tsunade had managed to only pass out a few times as he had snuck her water and a few pieces of bread via Shizune.

"Come," Tsunade said, as if she had a choice, but she appreciated the appearance of dignity, even if only a little bit.

"You have visitors. The um... young man you had an altercation with wishes to speak with you alongside his attendant."

"Thank you. You do your uniform proud young page." Tsunade called, having learned the young man had been a fan of the old tales of knighthood from eons past. He chuckled slightly and let in the attendant and a wheelchair bound Naruto who rolled their eyes. Tsunade's eyes never left the wall as she asked, "Coming to see your first execution brat?" but there was no anger behind her words. She seemed content in the fact that she was leaving the world of the living.

"Ready to apologize yet?" Naruto asked with an equal calm.

Tsunade's eyes scrunched up slightly in annoyance. "I am about to die because I lost my temper on you gaki. I am sorry I hurt you so bad. I am an adult and should have known better. More importantly I am a shinobi. Retired or otherwise. That was uncalled for and I am sorry," she gritted out sincerely.

Naruto smiled a little as he replied. "Not what I meant. I mean about our family and the sandaime. I could care less that you beat me to within a centimeter of my life. I want to live, yeah. But I am a ninja. Or at least a ninja in training. I knew damn well I would get my ass handed to me on a platinum platter trying to take on a Jonin, much less one of the sanin of the leaf. I am a moron, but not actually stupid. And I know that no matter what happens tonight, I will be beaten to within an inch, rather than a centimeter of my life until my godfather and the rest of my sensei multiple times until they feel I have learned my lesson and haven't went off half cocked again. But I knew that I stood no change against you. I even knew I could potentially die... but I have no family left in this world that I know of. So I wanted to at least try to get us on the same page before your execution."

Tsunade blew her lips together childishly, then sighed and said, "I have a lot of issues with those wanting to be hokage. It was what my brother and former lover Dan wanted before they died in the last great ninja war. But maybe you will prove me wrong, and that being hokage is not a fool's game. And I guess I am sorry. And I wish you luck Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. My necklace, my assistance has it, the guard here will inform her that it is yours now, Future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf." she said with a small smile.

Naruto then asked his attendant, "Please remove your hood daimyo-sama."

Because of her sealed condition, she did not sense the daimyo's chakra. She bowed to him. Naruto then started, "As heir apparent to the Namikaze name, the Uzumaki-clan, and as Senju Tsunade has not been in Konoha in ten years, I under my adopted grandfather Senju Hashirama act as heir apparent to the Senju as well. I ask that Senju Tsunade not be executed, nor expelled, but returned to the duties of a shinobi under my care and supervision as my personal medic and additional sensei for no less than ten years. These duties would supersede duties to Konoha as she would be my personal attendant, but I can't see letting the best medical nin in the known world be taken from us. Also- I ask as a personal favor daimyo-sama to spare my family. Oh yeah. And train Hinata-chan too. That should keep Hyuuga-sama from causing too much trouble."

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I will not be seen as week. She attacked one of my guest with lethal force. Execute her," the daimyo replied.

Two gigantic bulking mass of muscles entered the room brandishing two enormous axes. Both had stocking like mask covering their faces. Naruto's countenance changed from one of humility to one of defiance. He stood up, walked over and stood in between the men in front of Tsunade. His body was weak, and he could barely stand, but he would be damned if she died and he didn't.

This confused the daimyo severly, and he knew the answer to the question he was about to ask would be a severe political headache as he taught the little monster too well.

"Stop gaki, I am prepared for my fate," having picked up on what Naruto was planning. "I have made peace with..."

"You can meet up with your former love and your brother later. It's not your time yet, so hush."

"As for you daimyo-sama," Naruto still spoke respectually despite his mounting anger. "I instigated the fight by egging Tsunade on. Despite her personal opinion, I was the one who pushed her into a fight. I used deadly jutsu against her on the daimyo estate to which she defended herself. I know you are all about appearances. I understand how important that is thanks to you, but I refuse to one day become hokage and know that I was such a hypocrite. If she dies..." Naruto climbed on Tsunade's back and placed his neck parallel to hers," I die first."

* * *

To Be Continued. What did you all think? I hope the surprise double chapter was appreciated. I appreciate all of you that stopped in to check out our story. SageModeSasuke over and out.


	6. Homecoming Part 1

AN: For those of you who want to see a long drawn out romance between Naruto and Hinata form before they get together, it happened 'off screen' as it's been three years since the last chapter. We fought long and hard over how to make this chapter happen, and finally went this route. Also- SageModeSasuke wrote part of this chapter. The first half, but conferred with me while I took on the second half. I hope you enjoy. Dark Knight out.

* * *

It was a grueling night for the Daimyo, dealing with the paperwork and and the final exams for Naruto to finally return to Konoha. He tried every underhanded trick he could think of to keep Naruto from going home, but he'd taught Naruto the way of diplomacy a little too well as he learned a few years prior when he placed his own head on the chopping block for one Senju Tsunade. But he would not lament on that. He was drawing up legal documents alongside his attorneys, ensuring Konoha attempted nothing underhanded concerning Naruto. Kakashi returned to Konoha a year prior alongside Anko, and Tenzo prepare safeguards on the inside as Jiraiya did from the outside.

Tsunade and Shizune grew much closer to Naruto than either thought possible, but Naruto placing his life on the line for Tsunade, despite everything that occurred between them, it was almost a given that Tsunade would come to love her oddly liberal master as her own son. He had won her life, but her freedom was not hers. She was essentially a servant to the thirteen year old powerhouse. But servant she would stay without complaint if he remained as noble and true as she knew him now. Her only gripe is that he would not call her anything but 'baa-chan' after finding out about her youth jutsu.

Naruto was also pleased with the change in his dear friend Hyuuga Hinata. No longer did she stutter when she visited him. Though visit might be a bit of a light term as she stayed at the palace six months out of the year to train under Tsunade, and by extension Naruto, and Shizune. Not to mention the tips Jiraiya gave her. Back in Konoha, most still knew her as the shy, weak wallflower save for a very select few. Not even the Hokage was aware of her true power. It was something she was aching to reveal... when the time was right. She hoped that time came soon. Hinata also found that she and Naruto were gifted in the Equestrian arts, and shared a great love of horses.

Daybreak finally came where Naruto in his black martial arts gi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Hinata stood at the front gates of the Hi no Kuni Palace. Daimyo Kirito stepped forward in front of his guards and asked, "What is more important than power and prestige?"

Naruto didn't hesitate. "Come on Old man Kirito, you can do better than that."

Everyone's jaw dropped except for the daimyo's who chuckled slightly and said, "Remember Naruto-kun, only when it's just us are you to call me that."

Naruto looked around and said, "It is just us. You, me, and our family," referring to the Daimyo's wife lady Shijimi, his daughter Kiriko, the ten guardsman, and his Konoha troupe.

Kirito rolled his eyes slightly, but chucked again. "Alright, you win this round little bastard." to which Naruto smirked, and replied, "And to answer your question; it's comrades. As disobeying the rules of those in power might be seen as a bad thing, but deserting your friends, family and comrades in arms? No question; they are worse than scum."

The daimyo figured he finally got one over on Naruto, and would be able to keep him there and safe for a bit longer, but his wife placed a hand on his shoulder. Lady Shijimi would back Naruto. That would make things harder if he had to deal with his lovely wife being a headache. So instead he said, "It's not what I was looking for per se, but it works. As a reward, these scrolls go to you. They are legal documents and a few other things to help you get started in Konoha. I am giving Jiraiya copies of them to the Hokage, and Shizune-chan will have another copy in case some... unscrupulous entity tries to cause you any trouble. There is also a little spending money. Don't spend it all in one place... and do NOT give it to Tsunade to hold!" he ordered to which Naruto jumped to attention and gave an affirmative nod.

"But now is the crème of the crop. Bring them forward." the daimyo ordered. Two steeds were brought forward. One brown with a silky soft coat. The other black with a wild white mane. "Uzumaki Naruto, you have been an utter pain in my ass for a great many years now. But if the truth were told... I would not have it any other way. You livened this place up, and even helped us to find a security breach or thirty. I am surprised I am not assassinated already." he admitted lightly. "But the fact is, you really are like family." He then turned to Hinata, "Young Hyuuga-hime. Worthy of the title young master Uzumaki christened you with. Lilac-hime." to which the girl in question blushed a bit, but smiled brightly at the compliment. "Thank you your grace." "I am proud of you both. And your father tells me you kept your true power like a true shinobi. When it's time to shine at graduation, shine like the sun. Don't let the naysayers drive you back in on yourself. You trained under Tsunade, Jiraiya, a few tricks from my personal guard... I'd be surprised if you were not one of the most powerful in your village to be honest. I do not believe I am where you two are and I trained myself while you both have been here so I can better defend myself. That way my guardsmen can truly see a man they can not only want to protect, but know I will be able to have their backs as well as a true ruler should unlike my counterparts in other nations. But I am getting a bit side tracked. For your graduating my personal test, both different and at different times to keep you both from each so you wouldn't try to help each other. I am old, not stupid. We all see how you sneak peeks at each other when you think the other isn't looking." Naruto reddened slightly, but Hinata stepped forward and grabbed Naruto's hand and said, "Mine!"

Hinata reddened, but Naruto became still as a rod and fought back fainting. Tsunade stifled a small laugh. After Naruto recovered, the Daimyo continued. "As I was saying before Naruto nearly went Catatonic, I want to present these two steeds as gifts to you both as I know you will treat them right and care for them well. "He guided Hinata over to the brown steed, and introduced, "This Hinata, is Noble. And as his name suggest, he is true and strong. He will ride with you into battle. He is a shinobi steed. Like ninken, he will serve you well."

Hinata was speechless. She walked over slowly and carefully raised her hand in a non threatening way to give the horse the choice of whether or not to trust her or not. Noble seemed to accept this and nudged her to pet him which she happily obliged and eventually was allowed to mount. The saddle was already set, and instructions for her specific steed given to her via a sealed scroll.

Naruto was then walked over to his steed by the beautiful princess Kiriko. Hinata was too busy gushing over her new partner. Naruto's eyes locked with the big beast and they found an instant connection, but then something unexpected happened. Naruto's and the horse's eyes glowed green for but a second. Naruto stepped back from the horse and stated, "I cannot except this horse as my partner. I am extremely grateful for your generosity your grace, but this horse is linked to a summon family of horses, and as I already signed the Toad Contract it would cause a great darkness to be brought forth in some form or another. It is rare for two contracts to be signed without consequences, or so said the pervy sage."

"He's right Naruto. Though I never saw that reaction before between a potential summon and summoner." Tsunade offered.

"It's okay. I am a bit more attuned to it due to a bit of the secret training I went through with ero chichi senin." Naruto advised.

"Are you never going to tell us what training you two went on for those three months?" Shizune asked.

"Sorry Shizune nee-chan, but that is one thing I cannot do. It is not to be revealed even upon threat of death unless I am in enough danger to pull that training forth." he noted seriously.

Shizune knew to leave it alone. Naruto never used that tone unless it was something dire. Even the daimyo left it alone after Naruto expressely refused to reveal it and held it under the Clan Secrets law to prevent even the daimyo from digging too hard without something major forcing his hand.

Naruto walked over and petted the horse again and said, "You and I might not have been able to bond the way I would have liked, but know that you have a friend in me. Maybe you can visit me in Konoha sometime?" The horse nudged him with what seemed to be a laugh.

Less than an hour later, the group was on their way.

Jiraiya kept quiet for most of the trip. He found himself prouder of his godson than he anticipated. He even managed to force himself to set up living arrangements separate from Naruto. Naruto was about to become an official shinobi.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Konoha

* * *

'' _ **I don't give a rat's ass what you civilian bitches want. I will not take the Uchiha unless Uzumaki is placed on my team. 'I' am the jonin instructor and will fail his ass back to the first year of the academy. Fuck with me if you want to. I have watched him for the last few weeks and I am not impressed. You all pander to his every whim and have turned him into a pampered little shit. I hold no reservations with not training someone who will not be a benefit to Konoha's forces. And I see some of you getting red in the face. Well, too fucking bad. I have too much self respect than to bend to the whim of a CIVILIAN council who shouldn't even be in this conversation. These are ninja matters. Oh, and there is another here in the room with the Sharingan. Shimura Danzo.**_ ''

* * *

On the road

* * *

Naruto sneezed, and got butted in the back by Hinata's horse much to her amusement. Naruto for the most part stayed by his godfather and discussed fuinjutsu theory which Shizune found boring. Tsunade listened halfheartedly as it might be able to help her improve her own personally created seal of one hundred secret technique.

Shizune spoke with Hinata on and off about different ways the Byakugan could potentially be used in medical techniques as Tsunade and Shizune had been teaching Hinata offensive, defensive and medical techniques over the years.

The trip was long as none were in the greatest hurry as they were all aware of the last time Naruto was home many years past. No one knew what to expect when they arrived.

Naruto put on his cloak which did little to hide his clothes. It was mainly used to cover his hair and face. But revealed just enough at the main gate as he stepped forward first and said, "Genin Candidate Uzumaki Naruto alongside Sanin Jiraiya-chi chi and my attendant Sanin Senju Tsunade... yes that Tsunade alongside Hyuuga Hinata-hime," he smiled before catching himself on that last part. "And finally Kato Shizune. Attendant and assistant to Tsunade. Oh yeah, and Hinata's new steed Noble."

One of the guards glanced up and then jumped to his feet. His partner did the same but did not draw a weapon as his partner seemd more shocked than guarded. Upon glancing at the two Sanin and the Hyuuga heiress, the two guards bowed to everyone and offered a unified, "Welcome home all."

Naruto allowed a light nervous laugh and said, "If all it took to get treated like this was to drag my godfather and baa-chan home, I would have came back years ago."

"Oi brat," one guard started. But before anyone from Jiraiya's camp came to his defense the guard placed his hands up in surrender and said, "relax please. I wasn't going to insult him. I was just going to say it's been boring around here without you to keep our younger chunin and ANBU chasing you. It made this job so much more fun."

Naruto puffed out his chest in mock pride and saluted, "Consider Uzumaki Naruto back on prank patrol, but on light duty as I am about to become a nin and won't be able to get away with half as much."

"Good to have you back, though I could have sworn you had blonde hair last time I saw you," one guard tested though he knew from reports Naruto's hair had changed. Naruto sighed and said, "I'm of the Uzumaki clan which had red hair. I am guessing my clan's dominant traits finally started kicking in. But other than that, I am not really allowed to speculate on. Anyway, it's been fun, but I am sure Jiraiya has some research to do after so long."

"Bless you dear child." Jiraiya said with a small lecherous smile. Tsunade bristled, but Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "No brutally beating up Jiraiya unless he does something extremely stupid. You promised. He 'is' my godfather."

"Why do you even bother asking? You know I am bound to you by seal via Jiraiya. Why do you give me so many choices?" Tsunade asked. Naruto simply smiled as they strolled and replied, "Because it took a great many years for you two to become friends again, and I want to foster at least that friendship as it can be a great asset when I take the chair. I don't want my advisers at each others throats. And having an adviser with her own free will to challenge me will make me a better leader for it. You are my servant in nearly nothing but name. If you want your freedom... I can't give it to you as the daimyo won't allow it... but I will give you as close to it as I can. Why do we have to keep going over this?"

Tsunade smiled and said, "Simple. To make sure you're real. Anyone else would have let me die all those years ago, but not only did you fight for me, but you... you... challenged the daimyo for his seat you crazy little bastard!" she laughed.

* * *

Flashback, Three Years. Palace De La Daimyo (lol), execution quarters.

* * *

"Namikaze Naruto, Move your ass right now!" the daimyo finally roared.

"No chance. And for the last TIME, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. Don't forget it! Don't like it kill me! Better yet, I challenge you for your seat! I am not letting her die. She is family. And... and I don't go back on my word. That's my nindo. My shinobi way!"

From that moment on, the Daimyo knew not to underestimate how far Naruto would go for his friends and family. Instead of punishing Naruto, he did everything he could to make Naruto the best potential person he could. It would not be easy, but Naruto would have the best tutors in the shinobi arts, political arts, even seduction arts. He would tear down the image of what a ninja is and would rebuild it better than ever before.

Current, shortly after dropping Noble at the Konoha Inuzuka stable and getting him settled in the group made their way to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Hokage stairway to the top floor,

* * *

The hokage's secretary, still as old, wrinkley and evil looking as before, but did not greet him as expected. She took a note of the entourage and then Naruto. She pressed a red button on dest which let the Hokage know VIP's had arrived. She then stood and walked around to the front of her desk and greeted, "Good afternoon Master Uzumaki, Master Jiraiya, Mistress Tsunade, Lady Shizune, and Lady Hyuuga. Please forgive the lack of refreshments. I was not expecting you today, otherwise I would have prepared ahead of time."

Naruto walked forward and stated, "We thank you for your consideration secre... excuse me. Executive assistant-san." The secretary was obviously annoyed at having to speak so politely to Naruto, but his attitude and show of respect stymied a great deal of that animosity. After receiving the return signal for the go ahead, she showed the group in.

Hiruzen stood. His anger finally abated toward Tsunade all those years ago for what she nearly did to Naruto. "As I live and breathe. To think I would EVER see this group in my office is a bit of a shock to say the least." He then took note of something that looked similar if not a bit different from his son's own sign of service to the daimyo. "Naruto, I would love to welcome you home with open arms but I was hoping it would be so you could join the ninja forces. But that sash says..."

Naruto grinned and held up his hand and informed, "I am a standing captain on reserve in case I ever run into one of the daimyo's squadrons, I can assume command should the need arise as I earned that right when I saved him from an a few assassination attempts by finding constant security threats that kept popping up until one of the servants committed sepaku. The Daimyo then had me train with his standing army and given command on a few smaller missions, one of which protected his wife and daughter. I've proved my worth, and had one hell of a time getting him to release me to come home. You receive my letters I take it?"

To that Hiruzen laughed and pulled out a scroll and unfurled it. "This was the most recent one. It says, and I quote, 'Keep my chair warm old man, I'm coming home soon. I will be ready whenever you are ready to give it up. And believe me when I say I am bringing the skills to back it up. Shinobi, and political. I plan on being the godaime hokage. Believe it!' I am doubtful of all of these boast however Naruto-kun. A captain in the daimyo's guard? None of your companions seem to be backing your story."

This time Naruto quipped, "Oh, this is no prank old man. I asked them not to. But I did tell Kakashi to inform you when you finally asked if I was BS'ing you. But if it's okay, I think I would like to go visit some friends with Hinata-chan. You can see me whip some uppidy genin's ass during the exams tomorrow. Oh yeah. I don't want to be promoted straight to jonin or chunin despite my skill. I am going to need to prove my worth. So, even if you agree that I can back up my claim, maybe give me a little more operational control of a team than a standard genin, maybe as assistant captain."

"You seem rather sure of yourself Naruto," Hiruzen noted with a touch of disappointment.

"Don't sound so disappointed. If I am being one hundred percent honest... I beat Tsunade with her seal release four out of ten times... but I had to hide my abilities from even her, meaning she only saw the bare basics of certain CLAN techniques."

Hiruzen shivered slightly. 'If Naruto drew on his clan's famed jutsu, he might actually be able to back up what he was talking about.'

"Excuse me hokage-sama," Hinata stepped forward without her usual stutter which was odd in an of itself, but her next words made him wonder if he was in some form of genjutsu. "But Naruto-kun isn't the only one who's been holding out on his real skills. I am actually far more... than genin in skills."

Hiruzen actually discreetly attempted a 'kai' release which failed. He then pinched his arm and felt pain so knew it wasn't a dream. "After you pass the genin test, you two are taking the Jonin exams. No I won't force you to promote just yet, but I need to know if you both are pulling my leg. If you are, you are going to be doing d-rank missions for the next four months."

Jiraiya fell asleep on the window seal, and Tsunade looked a bit bored, but was still kind of glad to be home.

Naruto and Hinata left the 'adults' to play and for Hiruzen to try to pry the Uzumaki estate from Jiraiya, but soon learned Naruto would take the secrets to the grave as he would not even share the power to get inside, and Tsunade made it abundantly clear that she stood by Naruto. While Hiruzen would do anything he could to make the village stronger, he could not help but be proud of all three for protecting what was rightfully Naruto's, and not budging. He was Hokage, and needed to put on some sort of performance dealing with the civilians, but after Kakashi's explosion earlier, it meant he really did need to wrangle a bit of power back from them. So he wouldn't pursue Naruto's wealth of knowledge or money likely obtained from the Daimyo.

Hinata knew exactly where Naruto was going first. Upon arrival, she grinned like the cat from her favorite childhood book. The Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Naruto and Hinata stepped into the small empty little bar and were immediately greeted with a ragged looking old man and his daughter who stepped out from behind the curtain leading to the next room back. "Welcome to Ichiraku Ram..."

"Nope. I won't be greeted like some regular customer. You will address your best return customer as gaki, brat, or..."

After all those years, it didn't take much. The two both immediately nearly screamed, "Naruto-kun!"

"Damn right!" Naruto exclaimed. Ayame, the owner's sixteen year old daughter appeared behind Naruto and glomped him AND Hinata in a hug nearly faster than the eye could see. Naruto and Hinata were stunned.

"Hinata-chan! You didn't tell me he was coming home!" she gave the younger girl's ribs a quick tickle and made her squeak out a giggle.

Hinata, not to be outdone vanished, and gripped Ayame's arms and hands to prevent her from performing hand signs. "Um... Ayame-chan, when did you become a ninja?"

"Damn," Ayame said with a grin, "Looks like the cat's out of the bag. I went to the hokage and demanded to be allowed to go to the academy so I could search for Naruto. After smashing through a few of his ANBU as a civilian with a few years of martial arts under my belt thanks to my mom years ago, he relented and said Naruto was fine, but might need help being convinced to return home one day. So I became a reserve nin specifically in case 'My' Naruto-kun needed me." Ayame teased to which Naruto turned red as a tomato. He always had a small crush on her which she and Hinata knew about, although his heart was officially Hinata's, but that didn't stop the red head from reddening. The two decided to have a bit of mercy on him. He was tall for his age thanks to eating right while living with the daimyo. His request shocked the old chef a bit.

"Hey, old man, I'd like to buy a low fat, low sodium veggie ramen with extra chives please. Also, get this place fixed up old man. I've got it covered. I calculated and I owe you about one hundred thousand ryo from all the times you looked out for me as a kid. You will not turn it down," Naruto said in a commanding voice. "You will treat yourself and your daughter out to the nicest place in town as I am sure you get tired of cooking every once in a while. You won't argue with me because I am your best customer and will keep you all open for a good many years if it kills me. We clear?"

Old man Teuchi didn't know what to say, but the tone in which Naruto spoke brokered no argument. He approved of this new Naruto. He was not the same frightened child who snuck in to hide from the masses. A tear formed in Teuchi's eyes. Teuchi came over and gave Naruto a big hug. That was all the answer Naruto needed.

Teuchi closed shop for the day and the four of them ate together and fellowship ensued. It was good to have Naruto home.

Naruto and Hinata made their way to the different shops where Naruto laid a few of the owners on their asses and reminded them he was no longer the same weak little boy. He was a trained Shinobi of high order who had lived with the daimyo for years, and if they didn't like it, Kirito-sama would gladly have a 'talk' with them if the hokage didn't handle it first. That is if Naruto didn't 'talk' to them in much more detail himself. He received less trouble in some stores due to the Hyuuga heiress being at his side. The power of that name sent fear and respect through the ninja world. After making his purchases, Hinata accompanied Naruto to his home in which Naruto created nearly one hundred kage bunshin as the lst time he tried to go in through the front door to his family's estate, there was blood shed. Someone obviously tried to force their way past the barriers set. He was glad to see none succeeded. But he didn't tell Hinata what he found as to not worry her... but the fact that he'd secretly been teaching her fuinjutsu didn't help as she'd gotten a look on her face before entering. Her byakugan activated as well.

After inspecting the internal structures, while making sure not to invade Naruto's privacy she said, "I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, but I had to check. It's safe with the exception of safeguards already put in place it seems."

Naruto shook his head and said, "Well, now that you have had a look around maybe I should officially do this." Naruto drew Hinata in and gave her a gentle kiss and released it. "Welcome to my home. Maybe one day to be yours," he let the second part slip, but was glomped before he could even attempt to apologize for it. Hinata kissed all over Naruto's face. His mind swam in joy, but nothing sexual. He just enjoyed her. All of her, but he was taught the importance of that special step by Tsunade, Shizune, madam Shijime and even the Daimyo. Jiraiya and Kakashi would not corrupt him if they could help it. He would know how to treat a lady... and his gentlemanly behavior was what allowed Hinata to be near him alone. Hiashi Hyuuga even let Hinata travel back to Konoha without a Hyuuga escort as he knew Naruto would sacrifice his very body to protect her. Plus he trusted Hinata to be able to take care of herself, although upon her request, no one knew this and he still portrayed this super strict father.

Naruto and Hinata finally managed to make their way back out of the house and Naruto reactivated the seals. After a thirty minute walk, they arrived at the Hyuuga main gate at the front of the large estate. Much larger than that of Naruto's own, not to say his own was not a bit impressive in it's own right.

Naruto was invited in by the gate guard to his surprise. But did not turn down the invitation. He and Hinata were led to a large internal dojo where Hiashi stood before the masses. The Cadet Branch and the main branch alongside the clan elder council.

"Ah, thank you for joining us this evening Master Uzumaki." Hiashi greeted. "And to you my beautiful daughter." to which Hinata smiled, and bowed respectully. Naruto gave a respectful nod, following Hinata's lead. Hiashi then continued. "It has come to my attention that some here believe Hinata is not strong enough to lead the clan and her sister should be made heir. And some are about to whine that the ''quote, unquote, demon should not be here," to which Naruto laughed as he gave Hiashi the script to go by when this day came. He just didn't know it would be so soon. Naruto then jibed, "Careful there Hiashi-sama. Don't want to make the boss mad by breaking his law."

"Oh yes. How right you are Naruto-dono." Hiashi asked, "Hinata, would you mind sparing with your sister without holding back as usual?"

"I fear I can not do that father. I would likely kill her even going at twenty percent of my true power."

"She lies. She is a weakling," Hiashi's own father stated. Hinata turned and smiled sweetly at her grandfather and stated, "You were former head of the Hyuuga grandfather. I would be HONORED to test my metal against you. I mean, if you feel you are up to it honored elder."

No mouth was left closed after that. Not even Naruto's. Hinata wasn't done yet. "And if you beat me," Hinata taunted, "I will willingly go into the cadet branch and be given the caged bird seal, and we all know how I feel about that accursed thing."

'A chance like this won't come again the old Hyuuga noted. A chance to humiliate that upstart granddaughter of mine and preserve the Hyuuga traditions.' the elder stood and cracked his knuckles. Hiashi could not stop this, for if he did he would be seen as weak and possibly removed as clan head. This got out of hand much quicker than he ever thought possible.

'I hope you are really as strong as we both think you are,' Hiashi worried internally, while stone faced.

Hinata stepped forward and stated, "All it will take is one hit. One hit on you and this fight is mine."

"I will look forward to wiping that arrogant look off your face."

"It's not arrogance grandfather. It's confidence. A confidence I hid for many years. I look forward to showing just how justified I am in having it." Hinata then tapped a spot on her arm with a jolt of chakra and commanded, "Kai" which released her gravity and weight seals.

Naruto, being Naruto then threw out, "Okay, who's betting. I'll put twenty-five thousand on Hinata dropping the 'honorable' elder in ten seconds."

After a few seconds Naruto started to feel silly until Hiashi spoke and said, "I love my daughter, but I think it will take fifteen seconds for her to win. I'll put twenty-five on fifteen seconds. After the few seconds shock, Main and Cadets were making bets as Naruto used Kage Bunshin to keep up with the bets.

After all bets were in Hiashi sat beside his youngest daughter and said, "You are in for a treat my daughter. Your nee-'sama' is about to show you true power."

Hyuuga Hanabi was nearly floored at the confidence her father was showing in her older sister. Hiashi then said, "Hajime! (Begin)."

The elder Hyuuga warned, "You are within range of my divination. Prepare yourself." Hinata's eyes narrowed darkly and gave a warning of her own."It's funny," she placed her hands in a modified Jyuuken position, "I was about to give you the same advice."

"Eight Trigrams, Two Hundred Fifty Six Palms!" The old master moving with speeds of half seconds. "Two palms, four palms," but to his surprise, Hinata side stepped the first strike, and was not there where she should have been for the second, third and fourth strike. Only an after image. On the ninth second, Hinata appeared behind him and struck with a non Jyuken open palm to avoid turning his internals into liquid aw she struck. The elder flew across the room and into the empty wall. The room exploded into cheers but they did not last long. Even though she'd won the battle, there was one more thing that had to be addressed.

Hiashi stood up and stated, "Uzumaki Naruto, you started dating my daughter without my prior approval, but now you must prove you are strong enough to date her. I challenge you to battle Uzumaki Naruto. Will you fight for the honor of my daughter?"

Naruto vanished in a burst of speed and appeared beside Hinata and gave her hand a small squeeze. She then left the large mat as Naruto for the first time since arriving allowed his features to darken and stated, "Do you even need to ask?"

Hiashi smirked and stepped onto the mat across from Naruto. "Hanabi-chan. You will officiate this match," much to the chibi Hyuuga's shock. But Naruto, Hinata and Hiashi smiled as Hanabi stood tall and stated, "This is a match to determine whether Uzumaki Naruto is worthy to court my sister, the Heir apparent to the Hyuuga Clan. Hyuuga Hiashi, father to the heir, and Uzumaki Naruto, are you ready?" Both nodded, "Hajime," Hanabi called before jumping back out of the way.

"Do you think you have it in you to beat me Young Master Uzumaki?" Hiashi taunted lightly.

"We shall find out Hiashi-dono, so enough talking, and come at me."

* * *

To Be Continued! PS. Check out SageModeSasuke's new fic ThunderCats Ho. It's a Naruto crossover. A bit nutty in some places, but I think it shows promise.


	7. Homecoming Part 2

Last Time In: A Change In Destiny

* * *

Hiashi stood up and stated, "Uzumaki Naruto, you started dating my daughter without my prior approval, but now you must prove you are strong enough to date her. I challenge you to battle Uzumaki Naruto. Will you fight for the honor of my daughter?"

Naruto vanished in a burst of speed and appeared beside Hinata and gave her hand a small squeeze. She then left the large mat as Naruto for the first time since arriving allowed his features to darken and stated, "Do you even need to ask?"

Hiashi smirked and stepped onto the mat across from Naruto. "Hanabi-chan. You will officiate this match," much to the chibi Hyuuga's shock. But Naruto, Hinata and Hiashi smiled as Hanabi stood tall and stated, "This is a match to determine whether Uzumaki Naruto is worthy to court my sister, the Heir apparent to the Hyuuga Clan. Hyuuga Hiashi, father to the heir, and Uzumaki Naruto, are you ready?" Both nodded, "Hajime," Hanabi called before jumping back out of the way.

"Do you think you have it in you to beat me Young Master Uzumaki?" Hiashi taunted lightly.

"We shall find out Hiashi-dono, so enough talking, and come at me."

* * *

NOW: The Hyuuga Compound, Main Dojo

* * *

"Hajime!" the powerful call came from the the miniature Hyuuga Hanabi as she leaped back into the safety zone. The moment the word was spoken, Hiashi and Naruto vanished in blurs. All Hyuuga immediately activated Byakugans. After a few seconds both came back into view, Hiashi barely winded, but Naruto obviously so. The clashes were obvious however because each strike was felt rather than heard.

Hiashi stopped mid attack and held up his hand to forestall the match. "Uzumaki-dono, I have personally seen you train before while you were away. Why do you insult myself and my daughter with this facade?" It was obvious Hiashi was getting a little bit livid. Naruto stood up completely and stated, "Please forgive my rudeness Hiashi-sama. I have another test soon after the genin exams that the hokage has prepared. If I went all out here, I might not be healed in time for that exam... but for Hinata's honor, I will forego 'some of' my self imposed restrictions if that is your wish," Naruto compromised.

"It is." Hiashi stated with no small amount of conviction. "Then I will need a moment to prepare if it is permissible. Hiashi looked to Hanabi who nodded. Hiashi then nodded his approval. Naruto closed his eyes for a moment then a few black markings appeared on his body, from head to toe. Naruto removed his cloak revealing his toned form. Naruto then mentally gave the command, 'Kai,' thus releasing his weighted and gravity seals. Naruto looked at Hiashi and warned, "I have unlocked the seventeen tenketsu you've sealed. I will not reveal how I did so as they are a clan secret of the Uzumaki and Senju. Lady Tsunade cannot be swayed, so it would not be wise to try. Now, shall we continue?"

Hiashi returned to his stance as Naruto entered into a different stance than he was a moment ago. Hanabi gave the signal to resume and resume they did, but the Overwhelming advantage Hiashi held just seconds past was now gone. Naruto jumped forward with two knees directed toward Hiashi's chest. Hiashi curved his body to the side and attempted to strike Naruto from the side, but that was not to be the case. Naruto gripped Hiashi's outstretched arm and used the inertia from his body descending from the missed strike to drag Hiashi down and fliped him over. Naruto immediately did a back one handed cartwheel out of the way of Hiashi's palm thrust from the ground. Hiashi flipped back up onto his feet and threw his arm out in a direction toward Naruto and grunted. The whole room heard his arm click back into place. The unanimous consensus for that moment in time was 'Terrifyingly badass,' but Naruto was not one to be easily intimidated. He drew a shiriken and tossed it forward. Naruto had a feeling Hiashi might not dodge it for him to follow up with a melee attack, so he performed three hand seals and silently stated, "Ninpou: Shuriken Kage Bunshin."

One shuriken became thirty five. Hiashi leaned downward with a hand forward and one diagonal at an up angle behind him and spun very quickly, releasing so much chakra it created a visible spherical barrier. "Kaiten: Style of Heaven: Rotation!" The Shruiken were all destroyed. Hiashi released the technique and rushed Naruto and began, "Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-six palms. Two Palms, Hiashi started,"

But Naruto was having none of that as he vanished at the first strike in a puff of smoke. Hiashi's eyes widened as he realized, "Kage Bunshin, Shit!

But it was too late. Naruto's special infiltration invisibility jutsu Jiraiya created came in handy as it blocked even the power of the Byakugan. Naruto burst through the mat. Hiashi's impressive reflexes allowed him to leap back, but not fast enough as Naruto did a graceful back flip and landed a final kick on Hiashi's chin which knocked him out, ending the match.

A group of Hyuuga surrounded Hiashi, protecting him from Naruto, in case he wanted to end the clan head. "STAND DOWN!" Hinata ordered. Her voice brokered no argument. She walked over to her father and activated her byakugan. Once activated, her hands started glowing a light green hue. She moved her hands over her father's damaged areas including two broken ribs, a broken jaw, a few pulled muscles. After a few moments, Hiashi awoke. Hiashi stood and directed his attention to Naruto and smiled.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Welcome to the family."

Naruto face faulted. Hinata reddened as she made her way back over to Naruto nervously.

"Wha...what just happened Lilac-hime?"

"I think Otou-sama just gave us permission... to get married."

"Married?! What? We're too young to think about that stuff! I haven't even asked yet. I don't have a ring yet." Naruto panicked.

Hinata blushed much more after realizing how easily Naruto went from being too young to he didn't have a ring prepared. She realized he really did love her and would marry her one day.

"Slow down Naruto-kun. It's okay. I'm in no hurry," Hinata giggled.

Naruto then looked to Hiashi again and said, "YOU! This is payback for suggesting..." Naruto stopped himself when he realized all eyes were on him. He'd recommended it be Hyuuga teams sent out for Tora whenever she came to visit. Naruto wasn't suicidal enough to say that out loud in the Hyuuga estate. Hiashi allowed a small little smirk. Naruto was not one to be out pranked anyone and made sure to ensure Hiashi knew, " Also, Hiashi-sama, I wasn't going at full throttle during our... spar." to which Hiashi raised a nearly imperceptible eyebrow, but Naruto and Hinata vanished before he had a chance to retort.

A half kilometer away, Naruto and Hinata stopped long enough for Hinata to put more of Tsunade and Shizune's training into practice as she healed Naruto's few cracked ribs from prior to releasing his seals. Naruto deactivated his special fuin he activated to stop his tenketsu from being interrupted, although Hinata is the only one who knew that part of the seal's secret. The rest is just a touch of extra durability for Naruto. After Hinata finished healing Naruto, he stood back up and was about to reactivate the gravity and weight seals, but was stopped by Hinata.

"No Naru-boo." to which he turned seven different shades of red. "Wait until the morning to ensure your other healing makes sure I didn't miss anything."

Naruto activated his own shosen no jutsu and diagnosed his injuries. He was still a touch sore, but Hinata did an exceptional job, he noted.

"When are you going to tell Tsunade-shishou you do actually know how to do more than half of what she tried to teach you?"

"Two reasons. One. When she finds out, she is going to try to talk me into the medical corps. Never. We have her back here in Konoha with Shizune. They can build a formidable one without need of my help. I am going to be a front line shinobi until I take the hat. Two, you know what I hold. If people knew how much she pounded chakra control into my very core... they would panic. They would possibly call for my head because 'the demon' has become too powerful. It's one headache I don't feel like dealing with. I will handle the naysayers within short order... but for now, let's just not worry about the small stuff."

"Yeah. The small stuff," Hinata repeated as she snuggled her head against his chest.

They eventually separated and Hinata made her way back home, as Naruto did the same. He thought on Tsunade and Shizune and hoped he made the right decision to put them up in a hotel until the Senju property could be rejuvenated.

It was the right choice he'd decided. It gave Tsunade a bit more freedom from him.

Naruto unsealed his new sheets and bed from the palace after sealing his parents old bed away as he became used to the way the bed felt from the palace. He made the bed, then fell face forward right after setting his alarm.

* * *

Six hours later, Seven AM.

* * *

Naruto groaned. He realized his alarm didn't go off. He had twenty minutes before he was due at the academy. He quickly showered, pulled out his spare new gi, and grabbed a couple apples and a bottle of orange juice. He remembered Kakashi's instructions for going behind the house a bit late after he already took to to the rooftops after securing his clan's property. He devoured the fruit, juice and tossed them in the nearest public dumpster, perfect aim. Naruto leaped faster and faster, doing tricks through the air, which helped him to relax. He knew he had made it with five minutes to spare. He walked inside and took note that Hinata was already there and walked over to her. She saw him walking over and stood up with a bright smile. He took her hand, and she his as he lowered his lips to her own and gave her a small quick kiss. They both blushed, and pulled away from each other. The others in the room who were speaking were now motionless. The room was deathly silent. Naruto nor Hinata noticed. It was as if they were the only ones in the room as he picked her up in a hug and swung her around lightly. He lowered her and took the seat next to where she sat down. A blonde haired girl in purple was about to race over to Hinata and ask for the details, but a duck butt styled haircut entered the room. The one sporting it wore dark blue with the old Uchiha symbol on the back of it. Most of the girls flocked over to him. Naruto took note that Hinata rolled her eyes at the platoon of girls now surrounding the bored looking boy.

A few moments later the Chunin instructors arrived and called things to order. "Okay, got a note here saying we have a return student. Um... Ah yes, it's... wait. Seriously? Naruto's home?" Iruka glanced around the room a few times and found a red haired boy he tried to look out for in the academy years ago.

"Yo! Umino Sensei, you're sensing skills aren't going to be able to track me anymore like when I was a kid. I've become a real ninja." Naruto lightly teased until Iruka spotted Naruto with his hand intertwined with the Hyuuga heirs.

Iruka paled, "Um, Naruto... Hyuuga Hiashi-sama doesn't take lightly to his daughter being courted. Ugh." he shivered, remembered a boy named Takashi who gave up being a nin and his father took them out of Konoha a few weeks later.

"Hmph." Naruto chuckled. "Hiashi-dono and I have already had that... discussion yesterday, and... Hinata, please tell the class what he said."

"Naru-kun?! That's embarrassing." But his adorkable eyes made her giggle and she continued. "Naru-kun had a little sparring match with my father when he asked if Naruto was willing to fight for my honor. Naruto brought his A-game. And due to his training where he trained for the last four years... my father said, and I quote... "Welcome to the family."

That made all of the girls turn to the red haired blue, tinging on green eyed black gi wearing shinobi in awe. The boys, ALL of them wanted to know just what the former dead last could really do now. Though most of them were in denial of what Hinata just said.

Sasuke looked at Both Naruto and Hinata and realized...'She's not stuttering, and her eyes are full of confidence. And the strawberry wannabe might be someone to test my strength against if he really is as strong as the Hyuuga proclaims.'

Mizuki sensei, the assistant instructor held a large smile on his face, but Naruto and Hinata sensed an underlying darkness, but held their tongues... for the time being.

A few minutes later a pink haired girl walked in with a note from the nurse and took her seat near the Duck butt haired Uchiha and started an argument with the blonde girl on his opposite side. Naruto felt sorry for him as he obviously didn't like either girl, but was too tired of trying to get them to except it.

Soon thereafter a test was given out after Naruto and Hinata were separated to prevent cheating as it was obvious they were officially a couple.

The moment Naruto received his test he held it up and called out, "If everyone else doesn't have a genjutsu on their test, there's going to be heck to pay."

Iruka made his way over to Naruto before Mizuki could hope to respond. He took the form and placed his hand in a ram seal and called, "Kai!" To Iruka's surprise, the paper turned out to be an old Chunin exam preparation test. Iruka was heated. He glanced around the room and wondered who might be talented enough in genjutsu to do something like that. 'No,' he realized. That was at least a B-level genjutsu. The fact that Naruto sensed it is bat shit crazy. MIZUKI!' Iruka leaned down and whispered to Naruto, 'Be wary of Mizuki. I am not sure it was him, but I will speak to the Hokage after class, but for now I will get you the right test.'

Naruto sighed and said out loud, "Sorry for interrupting class sensei, but that was not a cool prank. I know you wanted to test my skills, but that was just a low blow."

After retrieving Naruto's test, Iruka escorted Mizuki outside for a moment and slammed him against the wall across the hall after activating a silencing seal. "What the blue fuck were you thinking Mizuki? I detected your chakra all over that genjutsu. If I hadn't covered for you, you would be in the middle of an Internal Affairs investigation. And you know they don't like a lot of drama, and would refer you over to Torture and Investigation quickly."

"Chill 'Ruka, I was just having a little fun. I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to see if they were making all of that stuff up about 'talking' with Hyuuga-sama. You and I both remember the last kid that tried to court lady Hinata." Mizuki, the silver haired chunin lied.

Iruka released him and warned, "I would not mess with that boy. I have it on good authority he was trained by two of the sanin for the last four years, not to mention some of the daimyo's ten..."

Mizuki paled slightly. He remembered who Naruto was and what he held, but he never dared consider how skilled he might actually be. Especially being a newly returned academy student.

After Acing the written part of the graduation exam, Naruto and Hinata met up with a few old chums of Naruto. "Yo Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba. Been a while."

Akamaru who'd just been a few weeks old barked at first, but then walked over and sniffed Naruto. Naruto blinked, and then smiled, and greeted, "Hello to you too Akamaru." Said puppy nipped Naruto's arm slightly. Naruto didn't get angry, but looked to Kiba. "He seems to remember you better than I do kid. He doesn't make friends easily. And I trust my partner, so you must be okay. Plus you snagged up the female equivalent of what Sasuke is to the girls. The most gorgeous girl in the village."

Hinata blushed slightly at that as she gripped Naruto's muscled arm.

"Hey Naruto, Hinata. Still a Ramen nut, or have you found the wonders of BBQ yet?" Choji asked. To which Naruto said, "I will always have a soft spot for Ramen, but living where I lived, I was only allowed it once every few weeks."

"Troublesome," the whole group said as one to which Shikamaru sweat dropped.

A few minutes later out in the training field of the academy

"Okay," Mizuki intoned. "Uzumaki Naruto vs. Uchiha Sasuke." 'Got you now demon,' Mizuki thought maliciously.

Naruto could feel veiled waves of disdain and decided to change the rules of the game. "I refuse."

"You what?" Mizuki asked, genuinely confused.

"I have been kept up to date while away. Uchiha Sasuke is the last of his clan, and I do not want to chance damaging his noble bloodline. Nor do I want to dishonor either of my clan backgrounds. I am Uzumaki. The only clan in history that required the combined might of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri to destroy my ancestor's island nation of Uzu. Not to mention my mother was Kushina, of the Uzumaki who were blood relations to the Senju. Also already being Uzumaki and adopted into the Senju clan by Senju-nee Uzumaki Mito as her daughter. I will not as a member of the Senju clan start the rivalry between the Senju and the Uchiha clans again.

Sasuke growled his annoyance at having another clan who's noble status stood next to his, but backed Naruto as he could do nothing else currently. "As heir apparent of the Uchiha clan... I Uchiha Sasuke agree with Uzumaki Naruto."

"I don't care what..." but the look from the other clan heirs stopped Mizuki cold. It was near cold fury that someone would try to force the issue, especially something like that.

'Something is going on with Mizuki,' both Naruto and Shikamaru realized. Naruto was getting fed up and decided to bring an end to it.

"How about you and I go a few rounds sensei. You obviously have doubt of my skills..." a flash of leaves appeared before Naruto and Mizuki and another silver haired man, this one Naruto recognized well, "No Naruto. You need to save your strength, and isn't picking on a chunin a bit below you."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said as knelt, adding cheese to this gooey situation. "What are you doing here sir?"

Mizuki took this as a chance to destroy Naruto's credibility. "Ah ha! So the Uzumaki boy lied. He was trained by Hatake Kakashi. And while that is impressive in it's own right, that is not the same as being taught by the sanin."

Before Naruto could reply, Kakashi did as he smacked Mizuku upside the back of his head and informed, "Naruto didn't lie bonehead. He was trained initially by Mitarashi Anko, Konoha's snake mistress. Myself. Who has more than a few S-rank missions under my belt myself. An undisclosed ANBU as his or her identity is classified, as well as Master Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade. Plus he had a few other teachers whom the Daimyo approved of. Naruto, reveal your sash."

"But sensei," Naruto tried to argue. "Do it now Naruto, that's an order from sensei to student." Naruto growled. He was annoyed but played along as he trusted Kakashi to know what he was doing. He pulled the sash down from below his black martial art belt. Shikamaru's breath caught and knelt. His family was close to the daimyo's as the daimyo used them to raise and protect his dear.

"Forgive our lackluster behavior Captain Uzumaki." Shikamaru apologized immediately.

"Damn it sensei. This is what I didn't want! And get up Shika. I am still me, just a bit more skilled."

"I know," Kakashi said arrogantly. "This is payback for destroying my last batch of books.

Hinata laughed slightly at this until Naruto gave her a playful glare to which she covered her mouth and laughed harder.

Uchiha Sasuke was livid. He knew he would have stood no chance against someone of that caliber. He owed the Uzumaki. He did that with one purpose. To prevent his humiliation. He owed the Uzumaki a great deal. 'Shit,' Sasuke cursed mentally. He didn't like owing anyone.

"How about you and I spar sensei," Naruto said with a dark smirk.

"No thanks. I still have the bruises from last time, 'little bastard,' " whispering the last part. "You will spar with Mizuki since he seems so focused to seeing your skill. I watched over you today and saw him put the genjutsu on your paper." He lied. "I have watched over you today, and Mizuki is determined you might be eligible for advanced placement to chunin after graduating today. It hasn't been done in a long time. But that is the only reason I could think of that he kept trying to trip you up."

'Kakashi, you fool. I forgot all about that outdated test. You just helped me in my endeavor to discredit him.' Mizuki smiled with a nod. "I had hoped to finish his trials without him figuring it out before I made the suggestion to the hokage."

Kakashi looked to Naruto and said, "Make it one and done." Naruto gave a quick nod. Mizuki was fuming at how quickly they believed this match would be over. "As you approved this match Hatake jonin sir, what are the rules?"

"Rules hm? No killing. Everything else is on the table. Oh, and Naruto, keep some of your stuff a secret for actual enemies of the village."

"Always, now get out of the way so I can cut lose a bit."

"You'd better hope I don't get you as a student," Kakashi hinted, "Else I am going to have you doing very painful things until you remember who the sensei is." Naruto slightly paled.

Mizuki and Naruto made their way into the ring and bowed. Upon Kakashi's 'Hajime,' Naruto warned, "You are within range of my Divination."

"What do you think you are kid, Hyuuga?" Mizuki taunted. Naruto allowed a small laugh as he said, "Nope. But I did train with one for six months a year for three years. I hope you're paying attention as you will only get one chance at stopping it."

Mizuki took off toward Naruto. Naruto's body showed a brief electrical surge surround his body. Naruto Vanished in an after Image and appeared behind Mizuki and tapped the bottom of his neck as he said, "Uzumaki style: Eight Trigrams, Touch of the Raijin no kami!"

Mizuki's body froze in place. He could not speak. He fell forward, still conscious. "How long will his tenketsu be inactive?"

"I could give you an estimate, but," Naruto glanced at Hinata who activated her byakugan and stated, "At least four hours."

"Good. You with the blonde hair, you're Inoichi's daughter?"

"Ye...yes sir!" Ino jumped to attention. 'Good girl. She went from that fan girl I saw a few hours ago to a bit of a ninja, ready to receive orders. Might be hope for her. "I want you to report to your father immediately and have him go to the hokage's office immediately. Tell him it's on Hatake Kakashi's orders. And don't worry about being in trouble. You are excused for this."

Both Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru placed a quick comforting squeeze on Ino's shoulders as she gave a quick nod and took off like a bat out of hell. She didn't know why she was being ordered to find her father, but knew that it was important and that she could not fail.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi expectantly and awaited orders. "I'll deal with Mizuki. Iruka, finish with the exams. Pass Yamanaka Ino if she's already shown proficiency in the three basic techniques needed. I saw it in her eyes. She will do well if she applies herself."

Iruka jumped to attention at Kakashi's tone. So did the upcoming genin. They had only ever seen Iruka do so for the Hokage on his rare visits to the classroom and knew that this silver haired man pulled some serious weight to make the chunin fall in line so fast.

"Yes sir!" Iruka replied without question.

"I'll be taking Mizuki to talk to the Hokage, and maybe a member or three of our T and I division. You did good in reporting his activities Chunin Umino. Well done."

Iruka stood a bit taller.

"And Congratulations to you as well 'genin' Uzumaki. You followed my verbal and non verbal cues without giving away our strategy to a potential threat. Now say goodbye to your girlfriend. You will see her later today after she graduates."

Before Naruto could move, Hinata flew across the expanse into Naruto's arms. "I am so proud of you Naruto-kun!"

Cheers went up and Naruto felt amazing. 'Maybe it's not such a bad thing to be home after all.' he let sink in.'

Iruka placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "You were a handful as a kid Naruto, but I knew you had it in you. Congratulations Uzmaki Naruto, Genin of Konohagakure no Sato."

Naruto thanked his one time academy sensei and moved to transport Mizuki. Two ANBU appeared to take him, but were stopped by Kakashi. The ANBU did not like being interfered with, but with a possible mole and or traitor, Hatake Kakashi was taking no chances."

* * *

A few hours later, to his surprise, Mizuki was freed, and all charges dropped. Someone high up either really liked him, or really hated the Uzumaki, but it was also a good thing he'd been trained to redirect Yamanaka techniques by his one true master.

Mizuki made his way up to hokage's office and was surprised that there were no traps set, nor seals to prevent the theft of priceless artifacts. Mizuki inspected the legendary scroll of seals to ensure it was the real deal and not a trap set for him. After taking the scroll, he raced through the night, on rooftops with the least amount of light, and through darkest alleys when ANBU patrols were within range of his senses. He forced his chakra down as much as he could to avoid arousing suspicion. He made his way all the way out to Konoha Forest's eastern gate. But what he didn't expect was a freight train of a kick to his back, careful to avoid the scroll.

"Going somewhere sensei," Naruto sneered.

"You..." Mizuki sneered with equal venom. Then decided to try another tactic, "You know why people called you demon all those years huh Naruto? Because you're the nine tailed..."

"Really? You're playing that cared dumb ass. You are a... or were a chunin, and don't know the difference between the.. oh never mind. It's not even worth my time to explain the intricacies of the majestic art of fuinjutsu. But even more important jack ass. You broke the sandaime's law." Naruto cracked his knuckles. "That means, your ass is mine!"

Naruto flashed forward with nearly unreal speed and felt he could finally unleash his full power minus some of the things Jiraiya made him promise not to go near. Black markings appeared on Naruto's hand and then a sword appeared in a puff of smoke directly in Naruto's hand. "Storm of the Ni Raijin no kami!" Naruto's sword split in two and froze Mizuki's head as it fell from his body while the other sword burned it to ashes.

Naruto sighed and sealed his sword as he then placed Mizuki's head and the scroll of seals in respective storage seals. He then signaled for the three in hiding to reveal themselves much to their annoyance.

He turned to the Hokage, and reported, "Confirmed traitor captured. Mission Complete Hokage-sama."

Kakashi then said, "You've made all of us extremely proud Naruto."

"Thanks Nii-sensei."

"I feel a bit out of place here, but I am proud of you too." Iruka said.

"Are you kidding me? I found out from Kakashi nii it was you who kept Anko-chan from taking me to T and I all those years ago. I owe you big time Iruka nii."

Iruka couldn't help but smile despite the dire situation of the night.

"Naruto, you don't have to put on a show for us. First kills are..."

Kakashi burst out in laughter. "Uh. Did I miss something," Iruka asked.

"Iruka, you saw Naruto's sash right? Well, that's not honorary. He holds the rank of Captain in the daimyo's elite guard. He chose to come home to take the Hokage's hat. He wasn't kidding about that."

"So I take it you have had a fair share of eliminating enemies Naruto?" the hokage asked seriously.

"More assassination attempts on the lady Shijimi than I'd care to remember... all thanks to Tora. But that is to be expected as I have been home a few times and stopped a few of your gennin from taking out the cat a few times."

The hokage was floored. 'It must have been part of Naruto's stealth training.'

"Well congratulations Jonin Uzumaki."

"No old man. Unless you are handing me the hat with it, I have a lot to teach my teammates. I plan on making my team and Hinata's team whether we are together or not the next generation of Sanin. We need to start small to build up our names. That will come mainly at the Chunin exams. Do you really not want to shove in the other villages faces how completely and broken our system is in the best possible ways?"

Hiruzen grinned like a joker at the prospect. Then he stated, "Uzumaki Naruto, you are hereby given the honorary rank of Jonin Captain, meaning you are genin unless you need to take command during a difficult situation. Kakashi, you and Iruka will get the word out and make sure everyone knows he has my full support and what happened tonight in the right circles. Clear?"

Naruto, Kakashi and Iruka stood at attention as they answered in unison, "Hai Hokage-sama!"

They all vanished in a swift shunshin as one.

* * *

To be continued: In a few months. We got a special request from a friend to speed this chapter out, so we did, but now it's off to other projects for the time being.

* * *

Note from DarkKnight: Don't forget to check out SageModeSasuke's ThunderCats Ho!, and a few other of his more recent projects. Take care and keep on striving peeps!


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